Is that all you got? If chaotic 2020 couldn’t stop us, one itty-bitty blizzard stood no chance – and so, here we are, dear readers, another wintry workweek conquered, another rock-salted weekend on the way.
High pressure: News 12 meteorologist Samantha Augeri checks the numbers.
With sugar on top: It’s Feb. 5 out there, and one of these has got to put a smile on your face – it’s both National Chocolate Fondue Day (always the fifth) and National Bubble Gum Day (always February’s first Friday).
And hug an Al Roker today – it’s National Weatherperson’s Day, marking the 1744 birth of early meteorological observer John Jeffries (more birthday boys and girls below).
For the record: Speaking of trendsetting scientists, busy Thomas Edison scored a number of U.S. patents on Feb. 5, including one in 1889 for his “Phonograph Recorder and Reproducer.”
Also patented on this date, in 1861, was the kinematoscope, an early stab at motion-picture making by Philadelphia tinkerer Coleman Sellers.
Quick(er) read: The very first Reader’s Digest, from back in the day.
More, or less: Encouraging reading by aggregating (and routinely condensing) content from other magazines, Reader’s Digest first hit newsstands 99 years ago today.
Stop right there: According to some, the first automatic “Don’t Walk” signs – a response to the growing number of vehicular-related pedestrian deaths – debuted in New York City on Feb. 5, 1952.
According to others, that’s bunk.
Fra Mauro, the merrier: Apollo 14’s Antares lunar module touched down in the lunar highlands on Feb. 5, 1971, reversing the (heroic) failures of the wonky Apollo 13 moonshot.
See it to believe it: And it was this date in 1978 when former Caltech basketball player Fred Newman sank 88 consecutive free throws – blindfolded – to set what is most likely an unassailable world record.
Newman, a U.S. Army Signal Corps cryptographer-turned-IBM programmer who passed away in 2014, also holds world records for free throws made in 24 hours (20,371), one hour (1,639) and 10 minutes (388, using two balls).
The rubber meets the road: British inventor John Boyd Dunlop (1840-1921) – who invented the first commercially practical pneumatic tire and leveraged it into a top-tier rubber-goods manufacturer that continuously reset industry standards for nearly 100 years – would be 181 years old today.
Giger counter: H.R., and possibly his most most famous creation.
Also born on Feb. 5 were wide-ranging British American inventor Hiram Maxim (1840-1916), who created curling irons, machine guns and much more; French engineer and industrialist André-Gustave Citroën (1878-1935), who brought Henry Ford’s mass-production methods to European automobile manufacturing; Swiss visionary and science fiction influencer H.R. Giger (1940-2014), among history’s most recognized visual artists; American author, script doctor and TV producer Stephen J. Cannell (1941-2010), who knew how to entertain people; and American electrical engineer and entrepreneur Nolan Bushnell (born 1943), who invented “Pong,” cofounded Atari and essentially invented the multibillion-dollar videogame industry.
Long Islanders in spaaace: And take a bow, Mary Louise Cleave! The Southampton-born graduate of Great Neck North High School and retired NASA astronaut – who logged nearly 11 days in space across two space shuttle missions – turns 74 today.
Give the former associate administrator of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate your best at editor@innovateli.com, where story tips and calendar events always blast us into orbit.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Forget me not: From the Science is for Lovers file come husband-and-wife researchers Cristina D’Abramo and Luca Giliberto, who’ve landed a hefty federal grant to study potential Alzheimer’s disease treatments.
The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research investigators are both assistant professors at the Institute for Molecular Medicine; Giliberto is also an MD and assistant professor at the Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell. Leveraging a five-year, $2 million National Institutes of Health grant, the love doctors will research the effectiveness of engineered tau antibodies as possible treatments for the degenerative brain disease.
Previous studies have explored the possibility of using immunotherapy to clear tau pathology – the accumulation of abnormally hyperphosphorylated protein in brain cells – in Alzheimer’s disease animal models, but have been limited (crossing the blood-brain barrier is always chancy). D’Abramo and Giliberto will take a deeper dive in an attempt to “define the mechanism of action of immunotherapy and explore a cost-effective therapeutic to translate into humans,” according to the Feinstein Institutes.
Landing zone: Stony Brook Medicine made its shots count on Thursday.
Cleared for Landing: More than 600 COVID-19 vaccine doses were administered Thursday at a special Point of Distribution coordinated by Stony Brook Medicine and Greenport-based luxury retirement community Peconic Landing.
With New Yorkers ages 65 and up greenlighted for FDA-approved inoculations, Stony Brook Medicine established the POD as a direct outreach to East End residents. In addition to Peconic Landing’s 65-and-older community, vaccine-eligible groups include teachers, public transit workers, grocery store employees and first responders, along with doctors, nurses and other public-facing healthcare providers.
Stony Brook Medicine is committed to making vaccines available as quickly as New York State Department of Health directives will allow, noted Stony Brook Medicine Dean for Clinical Affairs Margaret McGovern, who doubles as vice president for health system clinical programs and strategy. “We are happy to be able to offer vaccines today to elderly residents of the far eastern North Fork,” McGovern told Innovate LI.
TOP OF THE SITE
Sideline report: After leading the way through the COVID-19 crisis, four Mount Sinai South Nassau staffers are headed to Super Bowl LV.
Playbook: Keep your innovation team in the game – Innovate Long Island newsletter subscriptions are always easy, always free.
Innovation in the Age of Coronavirus: Vaccines go deeper, Northwell lands a Hail Mary and Long Island plays defense … keep up with COVID’s X’s and O’s in the Island’s one-and-only pandemic primer.
ICYMI
Med-tech amalgamating with Intelligent Product Solutions, cancer-mortality minimizing with Northwell Health.
BEST OF THE WEST (AND SOMETIMES NORTH/SOUTH)
Innovate LI’s inbox overrunneth with inspirational innovations from all North American corners. This week’s brightest out-of-towners:
From Illinois: Chicago-based transportation trailblazer Fuel Me presents a cloud-based fuel-purchasing and roadside-assistance platform for commercial users.
From New York City: Baby products pioneer Nanit brings AI to the nursery with smart sheets – textiles that measure baby’s height and weight and otherwise track growth.
From Oregon: Lake Oswego-based wellness innovator Better Conditions heads to market with premium-grade CBD products and a tear-jerker origin story.
ON THE MOVE
Linda Tantawi
+ Linda Tantawi has been hired as CEO of the Woodbury-based Lustgarten Foundation. She previously served as CEO of the Texas-based Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Awareness Organization-Greater NYC chapter.
+ Jack Macejka has been hired as vice president of national accounts for the Farmingdale-based Advance Group. He previously served as buildings opening lead for WeWork in Manhattan.
+ Janaya Raynor has been hired as a palliative care physician at Port Jefferson Station-based New York Cancer and Blood Specialists. She was previously a fellow at Jamaica Hospital Medical Center in Richmond Hill.
+ Richard Humann has been elected chairman of the Hauppauge-based HIA-LI Board of Directors. He is the president and CEO of Melville-based H2M architects + engineers.
+ Carol Allen has been elected first vice president of the Hauppauge-based HIA-LI Board of Directors. She is the president and CEO of Hauppauge-based People’s Alliance Federal Credit Union.
+ Elizabeth Saitta has been hired as the executive director for the Society of Human Resource Management-Long Island Chapter in Melville. She previously served as the marketing director for Hauppauge-based Kuttin Wealth Management.
BELOW THE FOLD ($5.6 million Per 30 Seconds Edition)
Ad ons: This year’s Super Bowl commercials will explore new frontiers.
Spoiler alert: Every 2021 Super Bowl commercial, posted and ready.
30 Seconds to glory: The 20 best Big Game ads of all time (so far).
Tough act to follow: After the worst year in the history of everything, ever, advertisers struggle to find the right tone.
Game face: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate LI, including St. Joseph’s College, where student and staff safety is no game – and they’re running up the score on molding qualified professionals and quality people. Check them out.
