TG it’s F: Happy Friday and an easy fast. It’s Sept. 29, on which “My Favorite Martian” debuted in 1963, starring Ray Walston as a stranded Martian anthropologist befriended by newspaper reporter Tim O’Hara, played by Bill Bixby.
Trivia quiz: What was the Martian’s real name? Answer below the news.
Amazon Watch: Brooklyn has come up with 33 contiguous acres with which to try to lure the proposed Amazon HQ2. The Bronx says it’s also in the game.
Related: Long Island officials are offering space at Belmont Park, Heartland and Brookhaven Airport.
Also: Buffalo is pitching itself, despite the requirement that sites be located near a major metropolitan area.
Paying forward: A Melville tech developer has launched a $5 million crowdfunding campaign to help create its own cryptocurrency.
Congrats: Stony Brook startup Traverse Biosciences, which is commercializing a portfolio of drug candidates from SBU researchers, was accepted into the NIH’s pretty cool Commercialization Accelerator Program.
Earnings: Enzo Biochem and Comtech, by the numbers.
Fund times: Technology focused mutual funds are having their biggest yearsince 2006.
Exact change: New York’s last toll booths will cease operation Saturday afternoon as the final cashless E-ZPass and license plate scanners are installed. The state said the system has already saved motorists 2.1 million hours of travel time.
Tough to find a good hookah: No new hookah bars would be permitted to open in the city, and only those deriving half their revenue from hookah-related business would be permitted to remain open under legislation passed Wednesday by the City Council.
Making rounds: Brian Lima and Syed Hussain, cardiac surgeons specializing in heart transplants and other adult cardiac surgeries, have joined the heart transplant center at North Shore University Hospital’s Sandra Atlas Bass Heart Hospital.
Couldn’t do that here: NASA and the Northeast UAS Airspace Integration Research Alliance have agreed to work together to build the drone industry in Central New York and the Mohawk Valley. Includes a 50-mile Unmanned Traffic Management Corridor.
From our sponsor: Whether it’s helping in site selection, cutting through red tape or finding innovative ways to meet specific needs, businesses that settle in the Town of Islip soon learn that we take a proactive approach to seeing them succeed. If your business wants to locate or expand in a stable community with great quality of life, then it’s time you took a closer look at Islip.
WHAT WE’RE READING
Cambridge Watch: A Kickstarter campaign for a wrist device that gives the wearer a pleasing wave of warmth or cooling took in more than $326,000 in 24 hours. The device, backed by Bose and Intel, will retail for $299 but you can pre-order now for $179.
Fighting fatigue: The Jackson Laboratory in Farmington, Conn. has been awarded $10.5 million over five years from the National Institutes of Health to collaborate on a major effort to tackle chronic fatigue syndrome. Symptoms are akin to the flu and can last decades.
A giant leap for STEM: A private-sector commitment of more than $300 million to fund K-12 STEM education will help boost computer science education programs across the nation and will be added to the $200 million in grants proposed by the Department of Education. The companies committing to the initiative include Google, Amazon, Microsoft and Facebook, pledging $50 million each, with Lockheed Martin adding $25 million.
Related: An increasing number of colleges have created e-sports programs, looking for the top competitive video gamers in the country and offering some impressive incentives. Currently there are 42 schools, including Miami University in Ohio and Georgia State, in the National Association of Collegiate Esports, or NACE, which was founded in 2016 to provide structure to college e-sports programs.
Bring a coat: Launch Alaska, a new Anchorage-based energy accelerator, is accepting applications for its four-month program, which includes mentoring, $75,000 in financing for startups with a prototype and opportunities for up to $1 million in financing for technologies that are market-ready and targeted towards a problem facing the Arctic region, particularly in the areas of energy, food, water and transportation. Hurry, deadline is Oct. 8.
Next: TalentWorks, a combination AI matchmaker and coaching platform, says it can get you the job interview of your dreams within 60 days, for a low, low $10 a week. Successful interview is on you.
From Xconomy: The “smart” device movement has brought us gadgets like Internet-connected thermostats, light bulbs and speakers. Now, a startup out of MIT called Ori wants to add furniture and walls to the so-called Internet of Things.
And: Researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Lab say the future of adaptive machines may be in origami-like exoskeletons. The lab’s latest project, known as “Primer,” is a centimeter-long, cubed-shaped machine that may make it possible for microrobots to perform surgeries from inside the human body or make space exploration more feasible.
BELOW THE FOLD
Good food, good cause: Chef Peter Van Der Mije of Osteria Leana in Oyster Bay and Chef Stephan Bogardus, from The North Fork Table & Inn in Southold, will provide tastings at Island Harvest’s 24th Annual Taste of the Harvest Gourmet Tasting Event, Crest Hollow Country Club, Oct. 17. Honoring Innovate pal Lou Biscotti.
Worth a thousand words: You love nature photographs. And we love you. So here.
No kidding: Scientists at Friedrich-Alexander University in Nürnberg studied 13,000 food components to find out which stimulate the reward center in the brain and make people feel good. Hordenine, a component found in malted barley – and beer – appears to do the job quite well.
Quiz answer: Exigius 12½.
Parting quote: Hugh Hefner died this week at the age of 91. In 1968, when he was 42, he asked out 18-year-old Playmate Barbi Benton. When she said she had never dated anyone older than 24, Hefner said, “That’s all right. Neither have I.”
A reminder: There’s really no such thing as “free” news. Please support great causes like the Town of Islip’s economic development effort.
Complied by John Kominicki. Thanks for reading.
