Five scientists, five big questions: a Jena plant detective leads the Bayer Foundation honours

In Leverkusen, the Bayer Foundation gave its Otto Bayer Award — €75,000 (about $88,000) — to Sarah O'Connor of the Max Planck Institute in Jena, who decodes how plants manufacture powerful natural medicines such as the cancer drug vinblastine and the malaria drug quinine, work that could one day let us produce them sustainably instead of harvesting them. Four Early Excellence awards of €10,000 (about $12,000) each went to Colinda Scheele in Belgium, who found how healthy breast tissue stops tumours before they start; James Eills in Germany, sharpening medical imaging; Antonia Morita Saktiawati in Indonesia, building AI tools that detect tuberculosis early in remote areas; and Bruno Pok Man Ngou in Japan, uncovering how plants defend themselves against disease.

SDG 9 · Industry, innovation and infrastructure — Mechanism: funding & finance