Dr. Kat Napaaqtuk❄️
@napaaqtuk
Inupiaq, scientist of host-microbe interactions, mom, runner, news junkie, not necessarily in that order. I speak for myself. She/her. Only reskeets posts with alt text. Unapologetically typo prone, doesn't use AI.
We have those in Alaska! I took this in June. They are so pretty, and yet they usually sit in the mud near where we collect fish :)
Watched these geese fly over during the only meeting I've accepted during this trip. Taking that as a sign that it was the right meeting to accept.
Love the options on this word cloud generator shiny.research.sfu.ca/u/rdmorin/sc...
This bird flew next to our boat like this for at least 10 minutes today on the Noatak river. We were returning from burying my folks ashes. I am telling myself that it was my folks making sure we got home ok.
For the briefest second in the early 90s I thought maybe I could be a model. This was taken as I was taking my first few classes in Medical Microbiology and Immunology. This is by far my favorite photo of me taken in the 90s. Sadly it has mold on the other side & I have to toss it.
Wait, is this true? Can anyone at Cornell (who are probably asleep bc I'm posting this at 9:15pm AK time) verify this?!? Huge disappointment if it is true. www.facebook.com/100052194456...
Made it to the tundra to go berry picking! This was about 9pm, for those wondering abt the Arctic sun. We were out for over an hour, even though it felt like minutes. With my recovering calf, my kid and I only picked about half a gallon, but hey, that's more than we had before we started!
My dinner, salmon from our family friends the Scaeffers. So good! I used some (expired) seasoning that was left in my dad's cabinet, but it was still delicious :)
Are you an academic who is running out of room in your photo storage? Use this fun trick! Delete all the concur error message photos! You're welcome, follow me for more helpful hints 🤗
Excited to be at the joint meeting between Beneficial Microbes and the International Symbiosis Society! This is the first time (in 10 Bene Microbes) they have held together. I don't know if I'll live skeet all the talks because I'll also be at the SING workshop, but I'll do what I can!
Landing in Madison WI. If the smoke is this bad here, can't imagine how bad it is in Canada.
I was in the ER* last night without a book, my phone was on battery saver, and I had no headphones so I asked if they had any reading material. My choices were this or a pamphlet. With every page I imagined how it would be covered on the podcast If Books Could Kill. *I'm fine, likely tore a muscle
From my walk with my kid last month. Decided to leave it at the beach for the next person who needed a pick me up. (& also bbc I had my limit of rocks already)
Lol, I wondered why my backpack is heavy and it turns out I had rocks that I grabbed when I was in Alaska (amongst a LOT of other stuff). I have lovely memories tied to each of these, mostly with my kid. The white one is slightly bigger than a quarter for those of you wondering about scale.
Book two in the Legendborn cycle is done. I was not prepared for those last few chapters! I have a stack of books to read, but they will have to wait until I am done with book three. I have to know what happens to Bri, and Alice, and Nick and Sel, and William. So good.
I am not going to check this on my computer, but I am very interested in what is on here...
From @ayyu210.bsky.social by @xhunei.bsky.social Happy Sesquicentennial :) Link to Ayyu's post: www.facebook.com/100000177680...
Gas is almost $20 a gallon in Noatak Alaska (my grandparents had a house on the Noatak River and we have family there). Gas is needed to hunt, fish, and gather medicine and other subsistence foods. This is horrible. Link to the original post: www.facebook.com/518716484/po...
Morning me thought that afternoon me would need a lot less sugar than I actually need. Thank goodness for my snack drawer.
Good way to start the day. Although I am kinda freaked out at how much doomer I am right now, I usually consider myself hopepilled. britmonkey.com/2020s-politi...
If you are in Anchorage, please go to the Alaska Native Heritage center and check out the boarding school exhibit. For a long time I thought boarding schools didn't affect us, but they did, deeply, and continue to do so today.
Not a dog, but my favorite dog sign from my favorite dog park in Anchorage Alaska
On my way out of Alaska, thought I'd share this sign at the rental car drop off. Fortunately we didn't need any Bear Mace this trip (or ever, if I'm being honest)
Had a great chat with @jfmclaughlin92.bsky.social! Thanks for meeting me for breakfast!
Last pics of the🧵 bc I have to mail our fish. In Cheney Lake, anadromous fish were introduced here back in 2011 & the fish have a LOT of parasites! We are looking for funding for this site bc it should shed light on how the microbiome changes as fish switch from anadromous to freshwater eco types
More from Westchester Lagoon. MT, the PhD student, is writing a paper comparing 2 years of data. Holly, our stock center manager, was collecting fresh eggs from each site. I am kissing my pocket cheese bc it literally got me through field season 😂 Check out the traps in the last pic!
Westchester Lagoon is by far my favorite sampling site. We have been characterizing the microbiome of these fish since 2016/2018 as well. This short video shows fish in their natural habitat. While we only collect threespine and sometimes ninespine stickleback from this site, it also has salmonids.
