Condoms help scientists decode Amazon cicada mud towers
Researchers in the Brazilian Amazon used condoms to seal cicada mud towers and found the structures help protect developing nymphs from predators (ants) and regulate air flow; larger towers rebound faster after disruption, suggesting the towers are an extended phenotype that aids survival during metamorphosis. The field study, conducted through Serrapilheira Institute and published in Biotropica, reframes these towers as an adaptive life-cycle tool rather than mere dirt.