PROVIDENCE, R.I. [Brown University] — Noticed the historic emergence of the 13- and 17-year cicadas that have swept regions of the U.S. this summer? Brown University Professor of Biology David Rand says to embrace their magic and mystery.

In a brief video interview, Rand, who chairs the Department of Ecology, Evolution and Organismal Biology at Brown, shared insights and scientific theories on the two groups of periodical cicadas, which spend most of their lives underground as nymphs before noisily emerging every 13 or 17 years — a phenomenon that happened concurrently this summer for the first time since 1803, making for “a very special event,” Rand said.

“They’re not harmful, they don’t bite,” Rand said. “They’re just noisy, and they might be considered a pain in the neck, but they are truly magical.”