An orangutan sips from a pitcher plant in Sarawak, Borneo

Charlotte Andrews introduces herself at the workshop.

Final report by workgroup 1: Engineering helping biodiversity science.

Incredible first 2 weeks in Brunei kicking off the first pitcher plant field experiments of my PhD with the team from @MechEcoLab and attending the International Workshop for Biodiversity and Bioinspiration @UBDVTLab ! Here are some of the best bits so far! 🌿

Best insect finds in and around Nepenthes rafflesiana! 1. Giant grasshopper taking shelter 2. Striped lynx spider lying in wait upon a pitcher 3. Unidentified, partially digested and very gruesome spider retrieved from the pitcher fluid 4. Stick insect succumbed to the trap💔

Fieldsite flora! 🌸1. A Pale reed orchid on a dewy morning 2. The National flower of Brunei- Dillenia with its fruits 3. A Bamboo orchid on the outskirts of the site 4. The flower of a young Cicada tree 🌼

The 2023 College #Research Day was a great success, with fascinating presentations from our graduate #students across a range of disciplines. Kindly sponsored by AstraZeneca, prizes were awarded at the end of the day for the top three talks and blogs. lucy.cam.ac.uk/news/lucy-cave…

Walter, Ritabrata Chowdhury and Lorenz have joined Charlotte Andrew on fieldwork in Brunei 🇧🇳! We are super excited to continue working on insect-plant interactions on the abundant populations of both pitcher plants and macaranga trees here. Some snapshots from our first field site visits:

I wondered why my pitchers were falling over every night… the culprit caught on camera 📸 🦎

Prof Walter Federle gave a fascinating talk yesterday at the Brunei Nature Society about his work on insect-plant interactions in Brunei! Huge thanks to Prof Ulmar Grafe, Universiti Brunei Darussalam, for the invitation!!

That end of fieldwork feeling…sad to be leaving Brunei after 5 months of pitcher plant experiments out here.💪🏻 Good luck to the rest of the Insect Biomechanics Lab crew finishing up our fieldwork in the coming weeks! Brunei- I’ll be back!🇧🇳✈️🌱

Teachers love hearing about what their students have been inspired to do and so it was great to catch up with alumna Charlotte and find out how her Physics lessons at Truro High have led to her carrying out ground-breaking research in the jungles of Borneo.

Research blog out now on the Lucy Cavendish College website! lucy.cam.ac.uk/blog/carnivoro…

Congratulations to Charlotte Andrew for passing her first year PhD viva, especially on her birthday!!!!🪴🐜🎂

Interested in a cool project combing physics and biology? A 3 year PhD/Research Assistant position on Biomechanics and multifunctionality of insect cuticular lipids is available in our lab at Dept of Zoology Cambridge University funded by HFSP . Link below: jobs.cam.ac.uk/job/44777/

Super excited to attend tomorrow! Good luck to Charlotte, Ritabrata and Walter who are all presenting! 🪴 🐜

Had a great time presenting my poster at UK Plant Biomechanics Day yesterday! 🪴

Huge congratulations to Charlotte Andrew for winning Best Poster at UK Plant Biomech Day at the Sainsbury Laboratory Cambridge University (SLCU) !! Sarah Robinson Naomi Nakayama Dept of Zoology Lucy Cavendish College

So pleased to announce that Charlotte Andrew has been awarded the Conservation Physiology Lecture and will write a summary for the journal following the event. Her talk is on "Pitcher plant adaptation to weather fluctuations": academic.oup.com/conphys #biologists100