--- title: "Scientists Direct Cyborg Cicadas to Play a Horrendous Droning Rendition of “Pachelbel’s Canon”" description: "A team of researchers in Japan recently stuck a choir of cicadas full of electrodes to make them sing in a horrifying chorus." date: "2025-05-04" modified: "2025-05-04" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/scientists-cyborg-cicadas-pachelbel" categories: - "Robots and Machines" tags: - "insects" - "music" - "the digest" --- # Scientists Direct Cyborg Cicadas to Play a Horrendous Droning Rendition of “Pachelbel’s Canon” ![A team of researchers in Japan recently stuck a choir of cicadas full of electrodes to make them sing in a horrifying chorus.]() *\Image: Tuskuda et al. / Futurism\* Pachelbel's "Canon in D" is like the Doom of the music world. It's been performed on everything from [train horns]() to [rubber chickens]() to [strange juggling bells]() — it would truly be easier to find an instrument the Canon hasn't been played on. Recently, a new "instrument" entered the pantheon, only it's not an instrument at all, but rather an insect stuck with probes and zapped with electricity. If you're imagining the typical wedding arrangement of [Pachelbel's Canon]() played on a harp or string quartet, you might be disappointed, because this particular rendition uses the face-scrunching sounds of the brown cicada. The "breakthrough" — if we're calling it that — comes from a team at the University of Tsukuba in Japan, which [stuck a choir of cicadas]() full of electrodes to make them sing. https://youtu.be/p49K0L2fSig?feature=shared The whole thing is possible thanks to the cicada's [noise organs](), called the timbal. Timbals are a pair of ridged membranes located in the cicada's abdomen. When rubbed together, they produce the insect's infamous "songs," which males use to attract mattes. In the wild, male cicadas will [band together in groups](), coincidentally called a chorus, which can become literally deafening depending on how many of the insects join together. In the lab, Tsukuba researchers used carefully controlled electrical signals to force the timbals together. By manipulating the voltage, the team was able to unlock the potential of the cicada chorus and grace us with the most offensive rendition of Pachelbel's canon **we've ever heard**. They also explored which electrical waveform was best for controlling the insect's timbals, and the pitch range at which cicadas can sing. A video of the experiment uploaded by the *[New Scientist]()* explains that the cicadas were "reproducing tones over more than three octaves" — roughly mirroring the tonal range of the standard [orchestral glockenspiel](). Naoto Nishida, a University of Tsukuba researcher, noted that the critters were "relatively unharmed" by the display, with some even making it back to the wild. "Some of them wanted to run away," he [told *New Scientist*](). "Some of them were like, 'okay, use my abdomen.'" Though we probably won't see the insects at Carnegie Hall anytime soon, the researchers note the cicada's potential for reproducing emergency audio equipment in emergency situations where energy is scarce. **More on insects:** [*Extremely Metal "Bone Collector" Caterpillar Cloaks Itself in the Shattered Exoskeletons of Its Vanquished Foes*]() ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()