Trials, other tribulations: The Chauvin murder trial may be over (for now), but socioeconomic challenges still abound – and our relentless innovation mission continues, dear readers, as we muscle through this momentous springtime workweek.
It’s Wednesday, April 21, and there’s lots to do. Let’s do it.
Vladimir Putin: Innovation muscle.
This seems … unlikely: And yet, today is the Day of Local Self-Government in Russia, instituted in 2012 by none other than man of the people Vladimir Putin to highlight (wait for it) the importance of local self-government in establishing democracy (!) across the motherland.
Also celebrated on April 21 are the far more realistic Vietnam Book Day, promoting reading across the Southeast Asian nation, and National Tea Day, celebrating afternoon tea across Britain.
Don’t call them “secretaries”: Here in the States, today – and every Wednesday during the last full week of April – is National Administrative Professionals Day, when the vital cogs get their due.
Pole position: Less vital, it turns out, is the famous fire pole – introduced in New York City on this date in 1878 and once a staple of national firehouses, but not anymore.
Death of the Red Baron: German flying ace Baron Manfred von Richthofen – World War I’s notorious “Red Baron,” credited with 80 dogfight victories – was killed in action on April 21, 1918.
A Canadian pilot is routinely credited with the big-time kill, but a ground-based Australian machine-gunner may have fired the fatal shot. Debate rages.
Chart-topper: Elvis, king-sized.
He found a new place to dwell: “Heartbreak Hotel” became Elvis Presley’s first No. 1 hit on this date in 1956.
He’d have many more. How many? That’s all shook up.
Needle point: The Seattle World’s Fair opened on this date in 1962 – by remote control, with President Kennedy flipping a switch in Florida that set off a radio telescope in Maine that directed a stellar impulse from 10,000 light years away toward Washington State, and then this plane crashed … it was a whole big thing.
Been there, done that: And bonus points if you can name (without Googling) the crew of the Apollo 16 lunar module, which was in the second day of its three-day lunar surface visit 49 years ago today.
For the record, astronaut Thomas Kenneth Mattingly II – who was famously scrubbed from the ill-fated Apollo 13 mission – was at the controls of Apollo 16’s command module.
On a Rollo: American psychologist Rollo May (1909-1994) – a student of humanism who became a trailblazer of existential psychology, and arguably its best-known practitioner – would be 112 years old today.
World’s Fastest Humans: Elaine May, back in the day, with longtime partner Mike Nichols.
Also born on April 21 were British inventor/manufacturer James Starley (1830-1881), the “father of the bicycle industry”; Scottish-American naturalist, farmer, explorer and writer John Muir (1838-1914), ranked among top American conservationists; Chinese-American biochemist Choh Hao Li (1913-1987), the first to synthesize the human pituitary growth hormone; and American mathematician Michael Freedman (born 1951), who earned a 1986 Fields Medal for his proof of the conjecture in four dimensions, which verified what you’ve always suspected – that any closed n-manifold which is the homotopy equivalent to the n-sphere must be the n-sphere.
Yes, you May: And take a bow, Elaine Iva May! The American comedian, film director, screenwriter, playwright and actress – who cut her teeth in 1950s improv and in 2019 became the second-oldest performer to win a Tony Award – turns 89 today.
Wish these and all the other amazing April 21 innovators well at editor@innovateli.com, where your story tips and calendar events always add new dimensions.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Intellect connect: Two-hundred-plus student presentations highlighting the brightest academic achievements will energize Adelphi University’s 2021 Scholarship and Creative Works Conference.
With traditional agenda items intact – in-depth discussions, creative exhibitions and more – the annual conference will be fully virtual for the first time. Students representing dozens of academic disciplines are slated to present on the digital conference platform, spotlighting work in mental health, music education, Greek mythology, social reform, COVID-19 research and many other fields.
Scheduled for April 27, the Garden City university’s testament to inspiring intellect will also feature roundtable discussions among students and faculty, providing “space for deeper conversations” with virtual attendees, according to assistant psychology professor and conference co-organizer Nathan George. Adds the professor, “While we all wish that a celebration such as this could be in person, we are also excited about the opportunities that a virtual conference provides.”
Stavros Zanos: Sustained shock.
The nerve of some people: A new article published by nonprofit research-and-discovery booster eLife chronicles Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research scientists’ pursuit of cutting-edge electric nerve-stimulation technologies.
In “Development and Characterization of a Chronic Implant Mouse Model for Vagus Nerve Stimulation,” Feinstein researchers – led by Institute of Bioelectronic Medicine assistant professor Stavros Zanos – detail surgical techniques, calibration methods and new progress related to their miniscule “bipolar cuff electrodes,” first unveiled in 2019. Among the advances: a long-term implant that can deliver controlled stimulations of the critical vagus nerve for up to four weeks, “a new standard for bioelectronic medicine,” according to mothership Northwell Health.
The science, performed in conjunction with researchers at New York University and the University of Colorado, promises an exciting bioelectronics blueprint, according to principal investigator Zanos. “To better understand the power [vagus nerve stimulation] may hold in treating some of the most devastating conditions and diseases, we needed a device to deliver long-term stimulation in preclinical studies,” the MD/PhD noted.
POD PEOPLE
This week on Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast, Suffolk County Labor Commissioner Rosalie Drago discusses her not-quite-meteoric rise from college dropout to uber-influential county commissioner – and the added weight of being the first woman to hold the office. Episode 2 is live!
TOP OF THE SITE
Screen test: With a skilled production shop in the fold, a Long Island digital-communications ace is wading deep into multimedia waters.
This is only a test: If this was an actual innovation emergency, your team would be lost without free subscriptions to our awesome thrice-weekly newsletter.
Innovation in the Age of Coronavirus: Students tested, tuition rates frozen and cats cured – where else, but Long Island’s one-and-only pandemic primer?
VOICES
The legalization of recreational marijuana will help balance New York’s criminal-justice scales – but racial inequity still plagues the system. Nonprofits anchor Jeffrey Reynolds calculates the socioeconomic damage.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Lighting SABERS: NASA’s quest for a better, safer battery. SciTech Daily explores.
The force is with them: With women rocking the workforce, men must pick up some domestic slack. Harvard Business Review cleans up.
The droids you’re looking for: The United States Postal Service issues a new stamp collection featuring “Star Wars” robots. Yahoo Life mails it in.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Slice, a New York City-based provider of tech solutions for pizzerias, raised $40 million in Series D funding led by Cross Creek, with participation from GGV Capital, KKR, Primary Ventures and 01 Advisors.
+ Phantom Space Corp., an Arizona-based manufacturer of launch vehicles, satellites and space-based propulsion systems, raised $5 million in seed funding. The round was led by Chenel Capital.
+ Adagio Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based biotech developing antibodies to neutralize coronaviruses, completed a $336 million Series C financing led by RA Capital Management, with participation from Redmile Group, Federated Hermes, Foresite Capital, OrbiMed, Polaris Partners, Mithril, GV, Population Health Partners, Adimab, Omega Funds and others.
+ Xwing, a California-based automation company for regional air cargo and aviation, raised $40 million in funding led by Blackhorn Ventures, with participation from ACME Capital, Loup Ventures, R7 Partners, Eniac Ventures, Alven Capital and Array Ventures.
+ Arcellx, a Maryland-based clinical-stage biopharma advancing cell therapies, raised $115 million in Series C financing co-led by Samsara BioCapital and CAM Capital, with participation from Adage, Asymmetry, CaaS Capital, Cambrian Bio, Sixty Degree, NEA, Novo Holdings, SR One and others.
+ Hazel Technologies, an Illinois-based, USDA-funded startup focused on extending fresh-produce shelf life and reducing food waste, raised $70 million in Series C financing co-led by Temesek and the Pontifax Global Food and Agriculture Technology Fund, with participation from S2G Ventures, Pangaea Ventures, the Jeremy and Hannelore Grantham Environmental Trust and others.
BELOW THE FOLD (They Come in Peace, We Hope, Edition)
Unidentified opportunities: Academia and VC might need to step it up on alien tech.
Locked down, looking up: UFO sightings surged across New York during the pandemic.
Science fact: Government disclosure is slowly happening – so why isn’t Silicon Valley getting serious about ET?
Welcome to Earth: So, exactly how should humanity respond when the aliens arrive?
Inalienably right: Nobody on Earth understands licensing, IP, immigration and other tenets of international law better than Nixon Peabody, one of the amazing firms that support Innovate LI. Check them out.
