by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station My friend has had a vole problem this year in her garden. For some reason, every time she tells me the stories of voles enjoying her organic creations I envision a Looney Tunes cartoon of carrots and cabbages […]
Island Science
Harvesting Wild Island Food
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station One of the most charming and frankly useful things about the island is the variety of edible plants, fungi, and animals that exist naturally in almost every corner of the landscape. Over the past several years in this […]
Among the Whales
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station I have friends visiting me from the Pacific Northwest and Texas this weekend and I have enjoyed taking them around the island to the many places that makes Nantucket so special. One of my favorites is the Nantucket […]
Catails: Marsh Corn Dogs
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station I have always loved cattails, and we have quite a few of them here at the Field Station. When a student showed me an especially beautiful picture of one I decided there’s no better time than the present […]
Biomimicry
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station In the past year, the UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station has offered two public lectures and a summer course in Biomimicry, and we plan to include it in our regular year round and summer offerings. Biomimicry is both […]
Small Monsters in the Water – Chimeras
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station A chimera (from the Greek word for she-goat) is a fire breathing female creature from Greek mythology made of three different animals; a lion, a serpent and a goat. The chimera was the “daughter” of Typhon and Echidna […]
Dangerous Beauties – Jellyfish
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station As the summer temperatures warm up our harbor and offshore waters, floating translucent creatures begin to crowd our shores and become a concern for swimmers. Unfortunately, as ocean waters warm world-wide and we continue to over-fish or endanger […]
