Anne Osbourn

On this week’s show: Earth’s youngest impact craters could be vastly underestimated in size, and remaking a plant’s process for a creating a complex compound   First up this week, have we been measuring asteroid impact craters wrong? Staff Writer Paul Voosen talks with host Sarah Crespi about new approaches to measuring the diameter of impact craters. They discuss the new measurements which, if confirmed, might require us to rethink just how often Earth gets hit with large asteroids. Paul also shares more news from the recent Lunar and Planetary Science Conference in Texas.   Next up, pulling together all the enzymes used by a plant to make a vaccine adjuvant—a compound used to boost the efficacy of vaccines—in the lab. Anne Osbourn, a group leader and professor of biology at the John Innes Centre in Norwich, England, talks about why plants are so much better at making complex molecules, and an approach that allows scientists to copy their methods.   This week’s episode was produced with help from Podigy.   About the Science Podcast   [Image: NASA/JPL; Music: Jeffrey Cook]   [alt: Itturalde crater in Bolivia with podcast overlay]   Authors: Sarah Crespi; Paul Voosen   Episode page: https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adh9195 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Professor Anne Osbourn, a leader in biosynthesis research and co-founder of HotHouse Therapeutics, discusses the untapped potential of plant-derived medicines. She highlights how ancient societies utilized plants for healing and the advancements in technology that aid in discovering medicinal compounds. Anne explores examples like QS21, a vaccine adjuvant derived from the soap bark tree, and the role of AI in unlocking plant genomes for innovative drug development. The conversation shines a light on the future possibilities of sustainable medicine from nature.