The Hughes Hatchery at the northern tip of the Lagoon Pond in Oak Bluffs looks like it was decorated by a mad scientist with a warehouse of aquarium equipment.

A town-sponsored project to develop 60 units of affordable housing in Oak Bluffs has been reconfigured to protect habitat at the site and could soon be bolstered by a law making its way through Beacon Hill.

Last week the southbound migration of shorebirds started with a few sightings of spotted sandpipers, glossy ibis, black-bellied plovers and lesser yellowlegs.

Is it fair to forsake a whole category of creature?

Statistically home to one of the highest percentages of tick-borne illnesses in the world, Martha’s Vineyard will soon be the setting for a clinical trial of a vaccine aimed at preventing Lyme disease.

The multi-million dollar project to raise the wharf finished up early this month. “Everything’s good, everything’s been running on schedule, no problem . . . I’m pleased,” Steve Ewing, the chairman of the Memorial Wharf restoration committee, told the Gazette by phone.