TOPEKA (KSNT) – If you’ve been outside lately you may have noticed some annoying little bugs are out and about.
The arrival of late summer and early fall brings with it an irritating insect known as the minute pirate bug. These pesky bugs, while not dangerous, have a bad habit of biting people.
Minute pirate bugs feed on everything from smaller insects to pollen grains, according to Kansas State University’s Research and Extension Office. While small in size, about as big as the head of a pin, the bugs are usually found flying around in fields. The bugs may start to move out of these areas in late summer and make themselves known by biting people.
“Though small, these insects have a surprisingly painful bite. They use their short, blunt beak to try to probe into the skin. They do not feed on blood, inject a venom or saliva, or transmit any disease.”Kansas State University Research and Extension Office publication excerpt
A minute pirate bug. (Getty Images)
People bitten by the bugs may find themselves covered in reddened skin, experience swelling or become itchy. K-State reports that repellents aren’t usually effective against the bugs but instead recommends wearing long darker-colored clothes to appear less attractive to them.
While minute pirate bugs might be annoying, they are very beneficial to the local environment. Minute pirate bugs feed on other insects, such as aphids and caterpillars, which helps manage garden areas. (snip-a bit MORE)
Jane Goodall, the conservationist renowned for her groundbreaking chimpanzee field research and globe-spanning environmental advocacy, has died
By HALLIE GOLDEN – Associated Press Updated 37 minutes ago
Jane Goodall, the conservationist renowned for her groundbreaking chimpanzee field research and globe-spanning environmental advocacy, has died. She was 91.
The Jane Goodall Institute announced the primatologist’s death Wednesday in an Instagram post. According to the Washington, D.C.-based institute, Goodall died of natural causes while in California on a U.S. speaking tour.
Her discoveries “revolutionized science, and she was a tireless advocate for the protection and restoration of our natural world,” it said. (snip-MORE on the page)
September 29, 2025 Velentina BoulterVelentina Boulter is science journalist based in Melbourne.
Composite image, or orthomosaic, of the wreck of Benzonia lying partially on top of the wreck of Caribou, in the “Ghost Fleet” of World War 1 shipwrecks in Mallows Bay, USA. Credit: Duke Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab
Two recently published studies showcase how underwater human structures can become essential habitats for marine life, with discarded munitions and ships from the World Wars now home to vibrant ecological communities.
The first study found that more marine life lives on World War II munitions on the Baltic Sea floor than on the surrounding sediment. Some of the marine organisms can tolerate the high levels of toxic compounds leaking from the unexploded bombs, as long as there is a hard surface for them to live on.
In a separate study, published in Scientific Data, researchers from Duke University’s Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing lab mapped a “Ghost Fleet” of World War I shipwrecks which have become habitat for a variety of wildlife, such as ospreys.
“For the first time, the composition and structure of epifauna on the surface of marine munitions are described,” write the authors of the first study, which has recently been published in Communications Earth & Environment. Epifauna refers to sea creatures that live on the seafloor.
Unused explosive munitions were often disposed of by dumping them at sea prior to the signing of the 1972 London Convention on the Prevention of Marine Pollution. The team used a remotely controlled submersible to examine a dumpsite in Lübeck Bay in the Baltic Sea to investigate the impact the munitions have had on marine environments.
The remotely controlled submersible Käpt’n Blaubär being inspected on the deck of RV Alkor during the research cruise AL628, March 2025. Credit: Ilka Thomsen, GEOMAR
Only 2 of the 9 objects examined were intact. The other 7 were in varying stages of degradation, which meant the explosive chemicals were exposed.
They identified the munitions as being from discarded warheads from V-1 flying bombs which were used by Nazi Germany in the late stages of World War II. Concentrations of the explosive compounds, mainly TNT and RDX, were found to vary between 30 nanograms and 2.7 milligrams per litre in the surrounding water.
Despite this, an average of about 43,000 organisms per square metre (m2) were found living on the munitions, with only 8,200 organisms per m2 on natural sediment nearby.
“On the individual objects,” write the authors, “the majority of epifauna was found on metal carcasses, while the exposed explosive was usually free of visible overgrowth.”
These results suggest the advantages of living on the surfaces of munitions outweigh the potential exposure to explosive and toxic chemicals for many marine organisms.
“This suggests that the high measured explosive chemical concentrations are not sustained long-term, or that they, in fact, do not have a major negative effect on nearby organisms,” the authors write.
“Overall, the epifaunal community on the dumped munition in the study area reaches a high density, with the elevated metal structures providing a suitable habitat for benthic organisms.”
While the munitions seem to be an important habitat for this local ecosystem, the researchers suggest replacing them with a safer artificial surface that does not contain explosives to further benefit marine life.
Composite image of the entire “Ghost Fleet” of Mallows Bay, with individual wrecks labelled. Credit: Duke Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab
In the second study, a team of researchers conducted aerial surveys to capture images of 147 abandoned World War I steamships at Mallows Bay on the Potomac River in Maryland, USA. It is the largest known shipwreck in the Western Hemisphere.
“Since their arrival, the ships have become an integral part of the ecology at Mallows Bay,” write the authors.
“However, sea level rise, sediment infill, plant colonisation, and physical deterioration are changing the nature of these shipwrecks over time.”
Like the previous study, the researchers found a variety of creatures have made the shipwreck their home. One of the species includes the endangered Atlantic sturgeon, which uses the ship as its nursery.
As the “Ghost Fleet” shipwrecks become islands, they are shaping both the coastal and aquatic habitats of Mallows Bay. The “Three Sisters” are pictured in the bottom right. Credit: Duke Marine Robotics and Remote Sensing Lab
The authors are hopeful their map will be an insightful resource for future ecological and archaeological research into the area.
“These data and products will enable researchers to monitor and study the changing terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems,” write the authors.
“The use of unoccupied aircraft systems allows for the creation of detailed orthomosaics and digital surface models, which provide valuable baseline data for archaeological, geological, and ecological assessments.”
Every time I put down an ant trap, a mouse comes in overnight and takes it away. What are they doing with them?
I love prescription medication commercials that say “Tell your doctor what medications you’re taking.” Shouldn’t my doctor know that already?
Could you eat an entire meal at a restaurant without your phone? That’s what you have to do at the new eatery Hush Harbor in Washington, D.C., which doesn’t allow cell phones. They will supply you with letter-writing materials and board games though!
Life advice: Try not to be the type of person who would go on a reality show.
Kids, what if I told you that in the 1960s and ’70s, companies embedded vinyl records on the back of cereal boxes? It’s true!
If I put down mouse traps, will a larger animal come into the house overnight and take those?
Mass. Appeal
Why do things have to change?
Massachusetts is currently in the process of picking a new state flag and a new state seal. The old ones were perfectly fine but I guess they’re no longer appropriate for modern times. Or something.
Unfortunately, the finalists are TERRIBLE. The seals are passable, I guess, but the state flag choices are a mayflower (the flower, not the ship), a mountain with a gold star on top, and a circle of turkey feathers.
Some people have joked that the new flag should be the colors of Dunkin’ Donuts, and compared to the finalists that might not be a bad idea.
Peak Profanity
I have a theory that everyone swears. They may not do it all the time and they may even pick the mildest of curse words. But everyone from the ages of 9 to 90 does it.
The New York Times thinks so too. The writer, Mark Edmundson, grew up in the 1950s and ’60s when cursing was relatively rare. And the people that swore were almost always guys (only never in front of a parent, teacher, or cop). But it’s everywhere now, from homes to schools and on television. I’m still sometimes shocked by what the basic cable channels can get away with now.
We try our hardest to leave out certain words in the pages of the Post, and if you leave a comment, please try to control yourself as well.
RIP Robert Redford, Bobby Hart, Patricia Crowley, Thomas Perry, Marilyn Hagerty, and Ricky Hatton
Robert Redford starred in many classic films, including All the President’s Men, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Way We Were, The Sting, Three Days of the Condor, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, The Candidate, and many other movies and TV episodes. He was also a director, helming Ordinary People (for which he won an Oscar), Quiz Show, and A River Runs Through It. He died Tuesday at the age of 89.
Bobby Hart was half of the music duo Boyce & Hart. They not only recorded their own music, they wrote and produced songs for The Monkees, including “Last Train to Clarksville” and the theme song to the show. They also wrote “(I’m Not Your” Steppin’ Stone,” “Come a Little Bit Closer,” and the theme song to Days of Our Lives (!). He died last week at the age of 86.
Here’s Boyce & Hart on a classic episode of I Dream of Jeannie (they also made an appearance on Bewitched around the same time).
Uploaded to YouTube by Willy Gilligan
Patricia Crowley starred in the TV series Please Don’t Eat the Daisies and played Mary Scanlon on Port Charles. She appeared in dozens of other TV shows and films. She died Sunday at the age of 91.
Thomas Perry was a writer of bestselling thriller and suspense novels. He died Monday at the age of 78.
Marilyn Hagerty achieved fame at the age of 85 when her newspaper restaurant review of Olive Garden went viral. She was championed by Anthony Bourdain, and he even published a collection of her columns, titled Grand Forks: A History of American Dining in 128 Reviews. She died Tuesday at the age of 99.
Ricky Hatton was the former world boxing champion. He died Sunday at the age of 46.
This was a big day for the debuts of classic shows. Lost in Space, Green Acres, I Spy, The Big Valley, and Gidget all started on this day in 1965.
It was actually a big week for debuts. Other shows that launched this week in 1965: I Dream of Jeannie, Hogan’s Heroes, F Troop, The Dean Martin Show, and The Wild, Wild West.
This Week in Saturday Evening Post History: Dole Fruits and Veggies (September 16, 1950)
That woman has a lot of hands.
September Is National Fruits and Veggies Month
You can use your own hands to make these recipes with those fruits and veggies.
(Some) Penguins of the Subantarctic. Watercolour and gouache on toned paper, 30 x 23cm. Credit: Bonnie Koopmans.
Visit the remote, windswept islands of the subantarctic with scientific illustrator Bonnie Koopmans. Here she shares her artworks of a few of the extraordinary birds that call this harsh yet majestic environment home. This article originally appeared in the Cosmos Print Magazine in December 2024.
Between Tasmania and Antarctica, there are a series of tiny, isolated islands on the cusp of the Southern Ocean. Many people don’t even realise they exist, but these frigid and windswept islands host a surprising diversity of seabirds.
Last summer, I was awarded a Heritage Expeditions True Young Explorer Scholarship to visit this remarkable region. My time in the subantarctic included visiting 4 of the island groups in the region: The Snares, the Auckland Islands, and Campbell Island (belonging to New Zealand) and Macquarie Island (belonging to Australia).
As a keen naturalist and natural history illustrator, I jumped at the chance to experience an area so remote, expensive and difficult to access. Additionally, as a keen birder, the subantarctic represented an opportunity to see some stunning birds in the most beautiful, harsh and unique environment.
FEED ME. King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) in gouache on toned paper, 23 x 30cm. Credit: Bonnie Koopmans.
As an illustrator and visual learner, drawing is one of my methods of learning about something, whether it’s internalising technical species differences or figuring out the general shape and character of an animal.
Field studies and drawing from life, especially, allow an artist to deeply observe and capture behaviour and colours in a way that is otherwise very difficult to achieve. The illustrations featured in this article are a mixture of studies done in the field, and finished paintings I completed once I was back home.
Flipping through a bird field guide, the seabird section often seems remarkably… grey. For me, it was finally seeing these birds in the flesh that made me realise how special they are.
While seabird identification can be complicated (groups such as prions are notoriously difficult to identify), observing them in person can provide other avenues to assist the process, as even aspects such as manner of flight can help with distinguishing species.
Albatross with their immense unflapping wingspan, and their endearing rambling stride on land. Petrels following the ship almost the entire journey, arcing left and right past the stern. Penguins effortlessly rocketing through the water, only to reach land and be slowed to a shuffle by their own tiny legs.
Certainly, the highlight of the trip were the penguins, with 6 species seen on the trip, each absolutely bursting with personality and charm. To see a breeding colony of penguins is an unforgettable sight (and sound!) and, if anything, it’s a wonder to see immense congregations of penguins at all considering the history of whaling and sealing in the subantarctic.
King Penguin Studies. King penguin (Aptenodytes patagonicus) in watercolour and ink, 20 x 20cm. Credit: Bonnie Koopmans.
A devastating history
During the 1800s and into the early 1900s, whaling and the subsequent products of oil and baleen were critically important to the newly industrial world. Whale oil – and later seal and penguin oil – provided crucial lubricants for machinery, and fuel for lighting. The subantarctic was heavily targeted.
Besides the obvious and huge impact these activities had on whale, seal and penguin numbers, another long-term conservation issue was the introduction of livestock and establishment of stowaway predators. These affected the local populations of seabirds, especially.
Once the whale and seal populations were low enough that it was no longer financially viable for whalers to remain on the islands, they turned their livestock loose, and pigs, cows, cats, and stowaways such as rats were left to run rampant.
As many of the seabirds breeding on these islands had never had to contend with land-based predators, the introduction of cats and rats devastated their populations. Surprisingly voracious predators which were, similarly, introduced as a food source were weka – flightless rails endemic to New Zealand.
As ground dwellers, the rails could easily eat chicks of ground burrowing seabirds such as common diving petrels and blue petrels. Additionally, livestock such as pigs and cows caused environmental damage and drastically changed the composition of habitat through grazing and trampling.
Shag Studies. Watercolour and ink on cotton rag, 35 x 28cm. Credit: Bonnie Koopmans.
Today’s birdlife
Beyond the obvious seabird residents, these islands are home to a wide variety of other bird species, from red-crowned parakeet and New Zealand falcon, to several species of passerines (‘perching birds’) such as tomtit, New Zealand bellbird and tūī.
Being so isolated, the islands tend to have a high level of endemism, meaning they are unique to the location. Several species of shags, ducks and snipe have diverged evolutionarily between the islands over time.
Campbell teal (Anas nesiotis) represent the impact introduced predators can have, but are also an incredible success story. This charismatic flightless duck was presumed extinct following the introduction of brown rats to Campbell Island during the period of whaling. A precariously small population was discovered on Dent Island, which rats hadn’t managed to reach, and in 1987 some of the teal were removed from the wild to establish a captive breeding program and ensure the preservation of the species.
Campbell Teal Studies. Campbell Teal (Anas nesiotis) in graphite and watercolour, 20 x 20cm. Credit: Bonnie Koopmans.
Due to the significance of the New Zealand and Australian subantarctic islands in terms of unique habitat, flora and importance for the fauna that eke out an existence in the region, there have been some incredibly successful efforts to remove predator species and rehabilitate these islands.
Macquarie, Enderby, and Campbell Islands are now free of introduced pests, with New Zealand’s Department of Conservation aiming to embark on their most ambitious pest eradication yet, targeting Auckland Island at 46,000ha.
Campbell teal have been reintroduced to Campbell Island as of 2004, and bird populations generally have been improving with lessened pressure from predation.
The precariousness of life on these tiny specks of land in the middle of a vast ocean makes them so unique and important to the creatures that thrive there.
All 4 of these island groups are now protected as UNESCO World Heritage Sites for outstanding universal value.
True Young Explorer scholarship applications open each year in spring for summer voyages. You must be aged 18–30 and share your experience of the subantarctic.
A Room with a View. Southern royal albatross (Diomedea epomophora) in watercolour and ink on cotton rag, 35 x 28cm. Credit: Bonnie Koopmans.
Scottie's Playtime 