Tracking Cicadas, With Helpers

The 17-year Magicicada Brood II cicadas are coming, and WNYC and its nationally distributed “Radiolab” program will be there to welcome them â€" after a mad sprint to persuade hundreds of listeners in the next two weeks to build temperature sensors and stick them in the ground, from Virginia to Connecticut.

The sensors, meant to predict the start of the cicadas’ en masse emergence, measure soil temperature at a depth of eight inches. Cicadas emerge in the days after it hits 64 degrees, expected between mid-April and late-May, said John Keefe, senior editor of data news for WNYC, who, with colleagues, initially built an $80 sensor with parts from Radio Shack.

John Keefe/WNYC An early prototype of the cicada tracker WNYC is using.

After Mr. Keefe announced the Cicada Tracker in mid-March, members of the group Hack Manhattan developed a $16 sensor, making a larger project financially feasible, and “Radiolab” jumped in.

Tapping $8,000 of an existing grant from the National Science Foundation, “Radiolab” has scheduled Cicada Tracker Maker events April 8 in Brooklyn and April 14 at the New York Hall of Science. Using their newly built trackers, attendees will be encouraged to enter findings on WNYC’s interactive map as temperatures rise, along with pictures and audio when the cicadas arrive.

The project “gives anybody the opportunity to put their hands on the tools of science,”said Ellen Horne, executive producer of “Radiolab,” adding that the hope was to get more than 500 sensors buried by April 15. The map and a video showing how to make sensors is at www.radiolab.org/cicadas.

In addition to engaging a wide audience in science, “this will give a much finer grain understanding to scientists” about the cicadas, as well as temperature variations across the Northeast, said Ellen McCallie, a National Science Foundation program officer who finances Citizen Science projects.

The cicadas’ arrival will not be breaking news, since scientists know they are coming, sensors or not. But Mr. Keefe hopes the sensor project will demonstrate the possibilities for news gathering. “If we can get many, many people building little hard things to put in the ground, that’s just one step removed from monitoring noise, pollution, benzene in the air â€" take your pick,” he said.

Tracking Cicadas, With Helpers

The 17-year Magicicada Brood II cicadas are coming, and WNYC and its nationally distributed “Radiolab” program will be there to welcome them â€" after a mad sprint to persuade hundreds of listeners in the next two weeks to build temperature sensors and stick them in the ground, from Virginia to Connecticut.

The sensors, meant to predict the start of the cicadas’ en masse emergence, measure soil temperature at a depth of eight inches. Cicadas emerge in the days after it hits 64 degrees, expected between mid-April and late-May, said John Keefe, senior editor of data news for WNYC, who, with colleagues, initially built an $80 sensor with parts from Radio Shack.

John Keefe/WNYC An early prototype of the cicada tracker WNYC is using.

After Mr. Keefe announced the Cicada Tracker in mid-March, members of the group Hack Manhattan developed a $16 sensor, making a larger project financially feasible, and “Radiolab” jumped in.

Tapping $8,000 of an existing grant from the National Science Foundation, “Radiolab” has scheduled Cicada Tracker Maker events April 8 in Brooklyn and April 14 at the New York Hall of Science. Using their newly built trackers, attendees will be encouraged to enter findings on WNYC’s interactive map as temperatures rise, along with pictures and audio when the cicadas arrive.

The project “gives anybody the opportunity to put their hands on the tools of science,”said Ellen Horne, executive producer of “Radiolab,” adding that the hope was to get more than 500 sensors buried by April 15. The map and a video showing how to make sensors is at www.radiolab.org/cicadas.

In addition to engaging a wide audience in science, “this will give a much finer grain understanding to scientists” about the cicadas, as well as temperature variations across the Northeast, said Ellen McCallie, a National Science Foundation program officer who finances Citizen Science projects.

The cicadas’ arrival will not be breaking news, since scientists know they are coming, sensors or not. But Mr. Keefe hopes the sensor project will demonstrate the possibilities for news gathering. “If we can get many, many people building little hard things to put in the ground, that’s just one step removed from monitoring noise, pollution, benzene in the air â€" take your pick,” he said.

PBS to Show Block of ‘Martha’ Programs

Fans of Martha Stewart who since last fall have been tuning into her “Cooking School” program on PBS for advice on how to braise, roast and sauté are about to get some sweeter wisdom on how to handle the often overlooked stars of menus: baked goods and desserts.

Starting the first weekend in April, when PBS begins to show the second season of “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School,” the network will broadcast reruns of the program “Martha Bakes” after the show. “Martha Bakes” previously ran for two seasons on the Hallmark Channel.

While the new season of cooking classes offer advice on appetizers and main courses, like making pasta dough and sauces or buying and cleaning fish, the dessert segments guide viewers through the challenges of cheesecakes, puff pastry and trying to master what bakers always boast is the oh-so-easy popover.

KitchenAid, which is a sponsor of “Martha Stewart’s Cooking School,” signed up to sponsor “Martha Bakes,” exclusively. The company is also publishing 23 companion videos that will appear on Ms. Stewart’s Web site, along with other Web sites like AOL and Yahoo.

Alison Adler Matz, senior vice president for strategic brand sales at Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia, said that KitchenAid worked with “Martha Bakes” because the series offers aspiring bakers so much instruction.

“They really like the educational and informative tone of this,” she said.

Some baking fans may still catch reruns of the baking show on the Hallmark network. Martha Stewart Living Omnimedia owns the first season of “Martha Bakes,” and Hallmark has licensing rights to the second season through late September.

Ms. Stewart seemed pleased that the instructional videos she originally produced at her home in Bedford, N.Y., and her studio in Chelsea attracted such a following. A spokeswoman for Ms. Stewart said the “Cooking School” program drew one million viewers each week.

“Cooking and teaching, my two biggest passions, are front and center on a show that viewers are finding accessible and useful,” Ms. Stewart said in a statement.