The world is indeed lucky when our most brilliant minds choose to work for the common good, rather than chasing money or becoming master criminals. So Inhabitat wants to thank young Ryan Honary for his work on an early detection system for wildfires. Sickened by the losses people sustained in the 2018 Camp Fire, California's deadliest wildfire, Honary turned his attention to how to mitigate future disasters. In 2019, Honary won the $10,000 grand prize in the Ignite Innovation Student Challenge for his Early Wildfire Detection Network submission, which provides app technology to firefighters. He was only in fifth grade at the time.

Olli, created by Arizona-based Local Motors, officially hit the streets of the nation's capital Thursday. Using an app similar to Uber or Lyft, ride-seekers can order the bus to pick them up and drop them off at their destinations of choice. Olli is electric-powered and 3D-printed, reducing the vehicles footprint before and after it hits the road, Local Motors wrote in a release. The bus can even talk to riders. "Olli offers a smart, safe and sustainable transportation solution that is long overdue," John B. Rogers Jr., Local Motors CEO and co-founder, said.

It was big week for solar power as well. For starters, scientists developed a breakthrough photovoltaic cell that set a new world record for efficiency. Portugal made headlines by running on 100-percent renewable energy for more than four days. The Mistbox is a new device that uses solar energy to cut down on summer cooling costs. And scientists discovered a new form of spiralized light that flies in the face of everything quantum physics says about photons.