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 […]
Tag: Sarah Oktay
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 […]
I’ll be Your Huckleberry
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station There is a wide range of fun and fulfilling things to do on Nantucket in the summertime, from surf-casting on the south shore, lounging with a good book at the beach, walking on the moors, or shopping downtown. […]
The Boy Who Cried “Shark!” – Fin Sighting 101
by Dr. Sarah D. Oktay Managing Director UMass Boston Nantucket Field Station It is never an easy thing to try to identify a marine creature from the five percent of their body that sticks out above the water. Unfortunately, the recent New England paranoia over great white sharks coupled with […]
