Nick Cutler

A grey, unoccupied lab with sink, centrifuge and shelves

A hand holding a tally counter with 294 showing, next to the stage of a microscope. There is a slide on the microscope

A row of labelled centrifuge tubes, with white caps, in a test tube rack.

A few platy fragments of glass viewed under high powered optical microscopy.

Two weeks until our 2/12 PhD funding deadline! If you’re interested in a cryptotephra research project and joining @camtephra.bsky.social there’s still time drop me an email to discuss your ideas.
Dept funding info: www.geog.cam.ac.uk/postgraduate...
NERC DLA: nercdtp.esc.cam.ac.uk/StaffDirecto...

Clarivate Highly Cited Researchers 2025 The Highly Cited Researchers 2025 list identifies and celebrates individuals who have demonstrated significant and broad influence in their fields of research. Through rigorous selection criteria and ...

Thrilled & honored to be included in the @clarivate.com Highly Cited Researcher List 2025! 🚀

Huge thanks to my collaborators & the present & past members of the @BioFunLab

Proud to contribute to the international visibility of @irnase.bsky.social & @csic.es

clarivate.com/highly-cited...

I first encountered Castlefield as an architecture undergraduate in the late 80s/ early 90s and loved it. That feeling hasn't gone away.

The whole area is pretty spectacular, especially in autumn sunshine

Primary sucession...in Manchester! The Castlefield Viaduct was abandoned for much of the 20th Century and nature took over. Now an outstanding example of urban biodiversity @nationaltrust.org.uk

Hard to disagree with this sentiment

Sex, drugs and the conscious brain: Francis Crick beyond the double helix A thoroughly researched account of the history and relationships that shaped the scientist who co-discovered the structure of DNA.

Francis Crick, Nobel Prize winner who co-discovered the structure of DNA, "never had to teach or grapple with university administration: he applied for a grant only once in his life."

www.nature.com/articles/d41...

No information on the outcome of his application...

📢Are you interested in studying for a PhD in the environmental sciences?

👉🏻Consider joining our vibrant Physical Geography community at Newcastle University for a funded PhD studentship. We have 9 new exciting opportunities. See more details on our LinkedIn Page: www.linkedin.com/posts/geogra...

This project would suit an applicant with a background in ecology, physical geography, or the biological sciences. Experience of – and enthusiasm for - ecological field survey/sampling (preferably in a forested biome) is highly desirable.

Full training in site survey and applied biological conservation to be provided by our CASE partners, Zulu Ecosystems during a 12-month internship.

The legacy of lost woods: soil microbial communities and the regeneration of the Caledonian Forest

New PhD project with me, Althea Davies and Louise de Raad of Zulu Ecosystems: "The legacy of lost woods: soil microbial communities and the regeneration of the Caledonian Forest".

Full details here: iapetus.ac.uk/studentships...

The flowers are the best bit!

Well, this looks interesting...and highly relevant to my @royalsociety.org International Exchange project with Dr Jenny Zambrano of @pullman.wsu.edu

A red Ford Pinto hatchback angles across a narrow gravel forest service road, a blue enduro motorcycle on a rear hitch carrier. Tall firs frame the view. Beyond them, a towering ash cloud from a pyroclastic density flow billows skyward. Photo by Richard Kent Lasher, May 18, 1980.

Tomorrow, we will talk about this photo.

A sunny Sunday in Newcastle, along the Ouseburn

No, Mount St. Helens isn’t erupting again. It’s just stirring up leftover ash 45 years after ‘the big one’ | CNN For a moment, it seemed like a blast from the past: a plume over Mount St. Helens on Tuesday looked like the volcano might be erupting again. But fortunately, this was not an eruption — just a wind-wh...

Resuspended volcanic ash: a niche interest of mine!
www.cnn.com/2025/09/17/w...

St Andrews, South Lopham looked very pretty in the moonlight

The Plough over Norfolk last night

At Churchill College for a brief visit. Wonderful to be back: like coming home.

OTD in 2010 I was fortunate enough to visit the cupola on top of the Radcliffe Camera during renovation works: a once in a lifetime opportunity. The views of Oxford were quite something.

A lot of great experiences on my recent trip to Australia. But swimming with humpback whales on the Ningaloo Reef was definitely one of the highlights.

You'll be missed, Andy: a terrific colleague and great geographer

Thrilled to have received the Richardson Medal from the @igsoc.bsky.social at the IGS symposium last night. I’m so touched and thank you to everyone who nominated me ❤️

In addition to awesome old growth forests, western Washington State also has abundant marine life. Including a jellyfish that looks like...a fried egg?

Olympic National Forest. We paced-out this fallen Douglas Fir: it was >60 m long (and would have been taller when it was alive)

Loving the Evergreen State College campus: brutalist architecture in a temperate rainforest (it really works!)

Installation of experiment complete: 30 plots, 10 with 5 cm of tephra, 10 with 10 cm and 10 controls. Plus soil moisture/temperature probes and a collar for making soil respiration measurements. Tremendous assistance from our student helpers Jarrett, Maddy and Gates. Hard work, but great fun.

Beautiful Olympia

The Evergreen State College's wonderful experimental forest: heaven for lovers of ferns and bryophytes (and a great location for our tephra application experiments).

In Washington State, setting up an experiment to investigate the ecological impact of volcanic ash deposition.

Step 1: drive 400 kg of ash from the 1980 eruption of Mount St Helens from Pullman to the Evergreen State College's experimental forest in Olympia. Research supported by @royalsociety.org.