Have You Seen This? How to control an army of bugs with your voice

(Amy Lippus, YouTube)


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KAISER WILDERNESS — If you could have any super power, what would you choose? Super strength? Invisibility? Mind reading? The ability to control insects with your voice?

These are all reasonable choices, though it turns out one option is a bit more achievable in reality than the others. Yep, as this video shows, we're all just one backpacking trip away from having the power to control an entire lake-full of bugs with just the sound of our voices.

The video, posted to YouTube by Amy Lippus, was captured during a backpacking trip to Nellie Lake in California's Kaiser Wilderness area. We see the serene, beautiful lake and a man casually lounging at its edge. Then he begins to yell.

"Hey!"

"Hey!"

"Hey!"

Why is he doing this? Well, with each shout, the entire lake seems to come alive for just a split second, as if underwater fireworks were exploding and rapidly dissipating in coordination with his calls.

The result is cool, weird and even mesmerizing if you've never seen anything like this.

I don't know why this is happening, but it seems pretty clear that there are some kind of bugs in the lake that respond to sound, or maybe even sound waves. Some people have speculated that the creatures are water striders, little insects that have the ability to walk on water and tend to rest on the surface of calm pools of water.

Whether or not that's the case, the video is a cool look at a unique phenomenon. Enjoy it, and then let us know in the comments if you've ever seen anything like this on your adventures.

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