Be inspired this week

Take some time to be inspired as you head into your week

Here’s our latest roundup of people doing good things around the world.

• Microplastics are a big deal right now. And now, an environmental tech firm has come up with a way of recycling the microplastics which are shed from clothes when they are washed. The microplastics are collected and then sent to Cleaner Seas Group’s facility in Cornwall before being extracted and recycled.

• Angel Academe, an angel network that has been investing in women leaders for several years, has now launched the UK’s first Enterprise Investment Scheme (EIS) fund specifically dedicated to backing tech companies with women in leadership.

• Space tea? Scientists are using plants from Devon to test whether it is possible to grow tea in space. The seedlings are being planted in soils similar to those on the Moon and Mars as part of a research project.

• It’s never too late to learn something new. A kapa haka group in Kerikeri is made up of people (the eldest is 80) who have never done kapa haka before or at least not since school.

• There’s been lots of talk about how being online is bad for teens, but new research has found Gen Alpha are less likely to doomscroll than their Gen Z counterparts and more likely to be productive with their screen time and using it for a side hustle.