The Q-Review:
Innovation Insights
from Across the Net

In our innovation inspiration article this week, discover how Prof. Moran Bercovici and Dr. Valeri Frumkin developed cheap technology for making optic lenses, with the potential to produce glasses for developing nations where many have no access to them. Now, NASA says it could be used to make space telescopes. Check out this interesting article from Haaretz to discover how a simple but decisive invention can have a huge and far-reaching impact.

Microplastics are everywhere, from Arctic snow and the deepest corners of the ocean to bottled water, table salt, and your baby’s poop. The source of the problem is sometimes less than obvious—laundry detergent, for example, is typically made with plastic microcapsules to hold fragrance. In Europe, these “added” microplastics will soon be banned in products. But until recently, there hasn’t been a viable alternative. The Fast Company report on Calyxia, a Paris-based startup, who have now developed new microcapsules that are biodegradable and is scaling up production.

The Guardian reports on California’s cherished sequoia trees as firefighters take an unusual step to protect them, wrapping the giant bases in fire-resistant blankets. The shiny material that helps quell flames, commonly used to protect structures, is rarely applied to natural features, but crews fighting the KNP Complex fire in the Sequoia national park said they are doing everything possible to protect the iconic trees.