ashwood has just got a wonderful weight-to-strength ratio. it might not be the most dense wood, but it gives a wonderful sweet spot, a great sound. ( baseball bat striking ball ) reporter: but that sound is in jeopardy because of this: the emerald ash bore. the half-inch-long insects kill every tree they infest within two years by tunneling into the bark and starving it to death. are you concerned about this? we have been greatly concerned about it. there s absolutely no doubt about it. reporter: over 50 million ash trees in the u.s. have died since the beetle arrived in 2002. they came aboard asian cargo ships and are now found in 20 states including pennsylvania, where louisville slugger buys the wood for the bats they make. are you stockpiling the wood? are people cutting them down in larger numbers now before they actually get infested? i won t call it a panic, but we ve seen this situation where land owners are trying to get their value out of the timber
adult cicada inside. the noise is the mating call of the male. how loud do these get? these cicadas a chorus might get to 90 or 100 decibels, comparable to a rock concert or something of that nature. reporter: the females respond with a more demure wing flick that sounds like this. they mate, the females lay eggs and both genders die, all in about four weeks, if they can avoid predators. right now everything on the planet wants to eat a cicada. foxes, skunks, raccoons, birds reporter: even some people. eat it, eat it! reporter: while they annoy humans, cicadas don t bite or sting and help move nutrients around, part of the cycle of life that may soon be clamoring in a backyard near you. anne thompson, nbc news, meriden, connecticut. something else to look forward to. after the break we are back
test. the escape capsule traveled 20 feet inside the steel pipe without a problem, so they went a step further and sent it down the shaft within feet of the trapped miners. we didn t send it down because we can t risk that somebody can jump in. reporter: his good mood reveals the level of confidence here. the only reason the rescues are not under way is because some of the equipment is still being anchored into a concrete slab. [ bell rings ] celebrations began saturday when the shaft to the men was completed. an american team drilled down a half mile through some of the hardest rock on earth. we re just so happy we did have the chance to come down here and having the chance to come down here and make a difference with our technology. we re very thankful for that and extremely happy that it actually worked. reporter: soon, the escape pod connected to the ski chair lift cable will be hooked up to a heavy duty wench. the capsule travels down the
feet of some of the hardest rock on earth. at the drill s controls american jefl hart who you can barely here come on, baby, come on baby. we came here with a goal in mind to do it sooner. it was more difficult than we thought. the hole fought us until the last centimeter. they were in afghanistan drilling waurl holes for u.s. soldiers when they heard about the trapped miners. on day 66 the americans reached the 33 miners what did it feel like in your stomach? butterflies. reporter: if people call you heroes, what do you say? the heroes are still downstairs. reporter: more than 1500 reporters are in the chilean deserts. teams are inserting half-inch segments of 20-foot long pipes, they will extend down 315 feet to prevent rocks in the upper