Last weekend, Mark Ruffalo came over to the Nantucket Field Station to speak about an exciting new water technology known as Opflex. Yep, The Mark Ruffalo, also known as Dr. Banner, The Hulk, and now as a true science geek (I mean that in a good way). Mark has created a foundation called Water Defense, which aims “to use technology and public engagement to keep our waterways and drinking water sources free from contamination and industrial degradation.”  Mark stopped by the lab with Scott Smith, the creator of Opflex, to work with Sarah Oktay to create an experiment for a press conference held following day. If you want to know more about Water Defense and Opflex, you can read Sarah’s article. In short, Opflex is a sponge-like material that can come in all shapes and sizes with thousands of small pores that remove oils and other pollutants from water.   A singular inch-by-inch cube, for example, can have a surface area of two feet!
It was a pleasure getting to know Mark and especially inspiring to know that famous people of his status are such strong advocates for environmental concerns. At the press conference, there were several children that work at the field station through the Junior Rangers/Scientist Program. Mark and Scott are strong believers that children should be taught to love science. Children, they believe, will be the environmental defenders of the future. All the young scientists at the field station will have a chance to work with the Opflex and a variety of other techniques as they experiment with ways to keep Nantucket clean.

–Wilkins Ventura, Jake Daniels, and Gabriella Diserio

Hello!

My name is Wilkins Ventura and I am this summer’s Nantucket Field Station intern along with my friend Michael Low! Now, I am to make use of this blog by posting interesting events and experiences Michael and I have here on the island. Sometimes, it is too hard to pick and choose because there have been so many good experiences within the past two weeks. I can only imagine what will happen in the next two to come!

I will list a couple of events so as to catch everyone up on what I have been up to recently. But first, I should tell you more about myself!

My first experience with Nantucket was through my school. I go to UMass Boston and every year the School for the Environment has a semester in Nantucket. UMass has a field station, which I’m sure you know about, right off of Polpis Road. It is through that field station that I began to learn about Nantucket, about oceanography, coastal ecology, and much more.

Flash forward to the end of April, I find out Sarah Oktay wants to have me work for her as a summer intern! It’s exciting to see large, green spaces replacing dull and cold winter fields. Summer time is delightful and it will be more so now that I am in Nantucket for the season! I am excited to work on water testing around the island, beach profiling, weed picking and so on.

Some of the events that I have experienced so far are large and small. For example, Michael and I have renovated the trail kiosks around the field station. They are brand-spankin’ new and they look darn sharp.  A couple of days ago, we found a plastic container in the lab which turned out to have an ootheca. An ootheca is an egg case where hundreds of baby praying mantis (known as mantids) come out of. This ootheca only had a couple of them (15 max).  Len Germinara, Dr. Oktay’s husband, came into the lab once holding a baby sparrow in his hand that had fallen from its nests. It’s memories like these that I am excited to make and hopefully it will be blog-worthy! I will try to post a blog post a week, so stay tuned for more posts about the Nantucket field station!

-WV

My name is Nicole Mangano and I am interning at the Umass Boston Nantucket Field Station during May 2014. I have experienced Nantucket for two winter seasons (January to April), so it is interesting seeing the island come to life.  So much more green covering the island and so many people! The seasonal changes have a lot of impact here.

So far, we have done lots of fun activities individually and in group settings. At several different locations, such as near the Grist mill, we have pulled garlic mustard, a plant invasive to Nantucket. This plant likes disturbed soils and can quickly overwhelm areas, outcompeting native plant species that would normally be there. Along with the Clean Team, who cleans trash from rotating areas on island each week, activities like this help keep Nantucket pristine and healthy.

At the Nantucket Field Station, education is an important aspect of protecting the environment for future generations. For five days, a group of students from North High School in Worcester came to the island and we showed them what the island has to offer, such as its history and its ecology. It was an amazing experience for the students to do hands on science. We seined Folger’s Marsh, saw horseshoe crabs mating, went to Great Point to see grey seals and do water testing in the harbor, and even checked out some of the biodiversity at the vernal pools in Squam Swamp!

This week, we will do some water quality testing in the harbor and at groundwater wells . We will also be working with the junior rangers, who do environmental activities with the field station, like garlic mustard pulling. I also hope to do some exploring, since there are so many wonderful, natural places to see all over the island. Every day is an exciting and new experience, so I look forward to whatever we do next.  Now, it’s time for me to make new memories to write to you about later! See ya around!