Following warnings of an imminent “cicada-geddon” earlier this month, residents in one US state have been so deafened by the chirping that they’ve been calling local sheriffs to ask why they can hear sirens or a loud roar. Deputies in Newberry County in South Carolina had to put up a post on Facebook reassuring people that the din was nothing nefarious, but the sound of male cicadas singing to attract a mate after more than a decade of being dormant saying, “Unfortunately, it is the sounds of nature”. Trillions of red-eyed periodical cicadas are emerging from underground in the eastern US this month, whose collective songs can be as loud as jet engines, forcing scientists who study them to wear earmuffs to protect their hearing. And you thought your neighbours were noisy…