Beyond their soft glow, fireflies play an important role in the environment, though they now face growing threats from habitat loss and increasing light pollution.

For the first time in over 200 years, certain parts of the country are experiencing a rare emergence of two periodical cicadas — those big, droning insects that mostly live underground until they finally, very audibly, do not.

Cicadas, and the way they urinate, offer a 'perfect' lab for understanding fluid dynamics at very small scales, researchers say