The Q-Review:
Innovation Insights
from Across the Net

Looming Eyes Buoy (LEB), invented by scientists from the Bird Life International’s Marine Program, as part of a multinational effort to create innovative solutions to prevent seabird bycatch, a pair of googly-eyes mounted on a floating buoy was found to decrease the numbers of long-tailed ducks loitering around gillnets in Estonian waters by 25%. Yann Rouxel, lead author of the study reporting the results wrote: “The development of low-cost devices such as the LEB offers up simple, yet innovative, solutions to these conservation problems and so that everybody benefits."

Bloomberg reports on researchers working on a pilot program to inject rhino horns with radioactive material, a tactic that could discourage consumption and make it easier to detect illegal trade. Thousands of existing sensors along international borders could be used to detect a small quantity of radioactive material inserted into the horns. “A whole new army of people” could now be able to detect the illegal movement of rhino horn!

Fast Company report on the hopes of researchers at the University of Göttingen in Germany, who have developed the plant-based packaging and are already in talks for its commercial use. Whereas polystyrene-based packaging like Styrofoam takes centuries to break down and is made from nonrenewable fossil fuels, popcorn is easily renewable, biodegradable, and could even be composted at home.