The Future: Future-proofing seeds
From Unearthed - The need for seeds, with Cate Blanchett by Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
November 5, 2025 · 34 min · Season 4 · Episode 4
About this episode
Cate Blanchett explores the future of seed preservation and the role of seeds in addressing environmental challenges.
In this final episode of Unearthed: The need for seeds , Cate Blanchett looks ahead to the next 25 years of the Millennium Seed Bank – and beyond. First stop: space. Dr Anne Visscher is a Research Fellow in the seed and stress biology team. She shares her pioneering work sending seeds to the International Space Station, revealing how experiments in orbit are helping scientists understand how plants might survive extreme environments — from future planets to a changing Earth. Back on the ground, Senior Research Leader in seed biology Dr Louise Colville takes Cate into the cryogenic labs to uncover how scientists are developing new preservation techniques for seeds too fragile for conventional storage. The MSB’s mission is also growing worldwide. Megan Engelhardt, Seed Bank Manager at Missouri Botanical Garden, USA, and James Amponsah, Head of the Tree Seed Centre at Forestry Research Institute of Ghana, explain how Kew’s training and expertise are helping them to share their knowledge across the USA and Ghana. Finally, Cate reflects on what she’s learned, banking on the knowledge that something as small as a seed can provide one of the greatest…
People in this episode
Host: Cate Blanchett
Guests: Dr Anne Visscher, Dr Louise Colville, Megan Engelhardt, James Amponsah
Topics covered
- seed preservation
- space research
- plant survival
- environmental science
- global collaboration
Keywords
- seeds
- space
- cryogenic labs
- plant biology
- Millennium Seed Bank
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Millennium Seed Bank, Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, Missouri Botanical Garden, Forestry Research Institute of Ghana
Places: International Space Station
More episodes of Unearthed - The need for seeds, with Cate Blanchett
- The Present: Inside the world’s largest seed bank · October 29, 2025 · 35 min
- The Past: The vision that got us here · October 22, 2025 · 41 min
- Special episode: With His Majesty the King · October 19, 2025 · 23 min
- Unearthed returns - The need for seeds, with Cate Blanchett · October 14, 2025 · 2 min
- How does nature network? · July 31, 2024 · 1h 5m
- How can we regenerate nature successfully? · July 17, 2024 · 60 min
Explore listener stats, chart rankings, contacts and more on the Unearthed - The need for seeds, with Cate Blanchett podcast page.