Right where you left us: Here we are, dear readers, back in your inbox and back on the beat midway through this blessedly cooler week of socioeconomic innovation. Let’s continue.
Smooth talker: Milking it.
Evening swim: It’s July 28 out there, and even without a sustained heatwave in sight – at least, here on temperate Long Island – it’s still warm enough to enjoy National Waterpark Day. After work, of course.
For dessert, a true delight: Today is also National Milk Chocolate Day, hailing the popular combination of solid chocolate with powdered, liquid or condensed milk.
Naturally: To continue enjoying clean water and the multifaceted cocoa plant, consider taking part in World Nature Conservation Day, an annual refresher on the sustainable management of Earth’s precious natural resources.
CSI Jungipoor: On the topic of useful resources, British Colonial Magistrate William Herschel first used fingerprints to ID people in India on July 28, 1856.
Today, fingerprint analysis is considered a cornerstone of forensic investigations.
Still hasn’t caught on: But the Metric Act of 1866, authorized by the U.S. Congress on this date, legally recognized the metric system as an acceptable system of measurements in the States.
“Equal protection of the laws”: Speaking of Congress, the 14th Amendment – granting citizenship to all persons born or naturalized in the United States, including former slaves – was officially adopted 153 years ago today.
Hold the cheese: A first time for everything.
Burger time: A staple of American cuisine, the hamburger has many origin stories – but only one boasts physical evidence, proving Connecticut lunch wagon owner Louis Lassen first “slapped a meatpuck between two planks” on July 28, 1900.
Skull candy: And it was this date in 1996 when spectators at a local hydroplane race stumbled across the skull of prehistoric Kennewick Man beside the Columbia River in Kennewick, Wa.
A subsequent archeological dig unearthed a nearly complete, scientifically invaluable 9,000-year-old skeleton.
Beatrix is for kids: English writer, illustrator and conservationist Helen Beatrix Potter (1866-1943) – whose “The Tales of Peter Rabbit” is just part of a children’s-literature legacy spanning multiple centuries and media – would be 155 years old today.
Pet project: Jim Davis, cat lover.
Also born on July 28 were British-born American Christian minister Ballington Booth (1857-1940), who co-founded Volunteers of America with his wife, Maud; American meteorologist and balloonist Henry Hersey (1861-1948), co-winner of the first international balloon race; American inventor and industrialist Earl Tupper (1907-1983), who changed leftovers forever by inventing Tupperware; American physicist Charles Townes (1915-2015), a Nobel Prize laureate knee-deep in quantum electronics; and Southampton’s own Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis (1929-1994), a book editor, photographer and socialite who became the 37th First Lady of the United States.
Odie but goodie: And take a bow, James Robert Davis! The American cartoonist – best known for inventing Monday-hating, lasagna-loving Garfield the cat, his canine companion Odie and their socially awkward owner Jon – turns 76 today.
Wish the beloved illustrator well at editor@innovateli.com, where we can only say this about your news tips and calendar events: Love us, feed us, never leave us.
About our sponsor: Bridgeworks is Long Island’s modern coworking and office space. Headquartered in Long Beach, our workspace offers flexible month-to-month private offices, meeting rooms and innovative amenities for companies of all types. Membership includes onsite management, high-speed Internet access, mail services, full café, onsite parking and easy access to the Long Island Rail Road. Members also gain early access to the Airbnb for commercial real-estate, DropDesk.
BUT FIRST, THIS
That’s atypical: A new study by Northwell Health’s Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research shows that nearly half of all hospitalized COVID patients early in the pandemic displayed “atypical symptoms” – an important revelation as the Delta variant traverses the nation and the globe.
The report – published earlier this month in The Journals of Gerontology, the Gerontological Society of America’s official peer-reviewed journal – focused on 4,961 COVID patients admitted to Northwell Health hospitals between March 1 and April 20, 2020. Of those hospitalized patients, 51 percent displayed both well-known “typical symptoms” (coughs and fevers) and less-recognized “atypical symptoms” (including functional and mental declines), while 49 percent presented only the atypical symptoms.
Atypical presentations – most common among senior citizens, women and minority patients – also included unusual gastrointestinal, cardiovascular and neurological disorders. Missing those atypical signs could have led to fewer-than-necessary COVID tests among infected populations, which likely helped the disease spread; it almost certainly contributed to the disproportionate number of COVID-related deaths among seniors, who represent a whopping 81 percent of all COVID fatalities, according to the study. Full report here.
Heart-felt: Jaspan Schlesinger delivers a Heart of the Community Award to the Port Jefferson-based Spectrum Designs Foundation.
Diamond jubilee: Several Long Island organizations will ride a wave of generosity rolling from law firm Jaspan Schlesinger, which is commemorating its 75th anniversary by donating to 75 nonprofit groups throughout Greater New York.
The Jaspan Schlesinger Heart of the Community Awards target “organizations that demonstrate a commitment to the betterment of New York communities,” according to the circa-1946 Garden City-based firm. Among the initial award recipients are Hauppauge-based Long Island Cares-The Harry Chapin Food Bank, Islandia-based Big Brothers Big Sisters of Long Island and the Huntington-based Family Service League, all of whom will receive undisclosed financial donations and be profiled on the Jaspan Schlesinger website, as well as the firm’s social media pages.
The awards continue the firm’s tradition of community support; Jaspan Schlesinger has been a longstanding booster of the annual Marcum Workplace Challenge, the United Way’s Stuff-a-Bus program and other regional endeavors with charitable goals. “Giving back, whether through volunteerism or philanthropy, has always been a cornerstone of Jaspan Schlesinger’s firm culture,” noted co-Managing Partner Steve Schlesinger. “With these awards, we hope to recognize the New York region’s not-for-profit leaders and highlight the worthy causes that they support.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 6: Ann-Marie Scheidt, Stony Brook University tech-commercialization genius.
With guests like Long Island Association President Matt Cohen, Eversource Energy offshore wind-master Kenneth Bowes and Stony Brook University tech-commercialization queen Ann-Marie Scheidt, Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast never lacks for genius insights – and some darned good conversations, too. Season 2 is in the works … catch up with Season 1 right now!
TOP OF THE SITE
Mental toll: The State University system is pumping nearly $60 million into programs designed to safeguard students’ mental health during the lingering pandemic.
Bulletproof: Albany is creating thousands of youth-oriented jobs – including hundreds on Long Island – to counter the growing gun-violence threat.
Message received: Please share this engaging newsletter with your entire innovation team – then tell them to get their own free subscriptions, because you’re not, like, the messenger boy.
VOICES
The regional housing market has been on a wild ride throughout the pandemic – great for sellers, less so for everyone else, and suggesting a dire need for long-term residential planning. Fortunately, Voices law anchor Michael Sahn has some ideas about that.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Nonstop: Magnetic cement could charge your electric vehicle while you drive. Engadget charges ahead.
One-stop shop: A SaaS startup that automates small-biz marketing has raised $70 million. Tech Crunch stops by.
Full stop: Citing the Delta variant, the CDC warns Americans to avoid Spain and Portugal. Travel + Leisure changes itineraries.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Embark Veterinary, a Massachusetts-based canine genetics company, raised $75 million in Series B funding led by Lydia Jett of SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from F-Prime Capital, SV Angel, Slow Ventures, Freestyle Capital and Third Kind Venture Capital.
+ Natel Energy, a California-based supplier of sustainable hydropower solutions, raised $20 million in funding led by Breakthrough Energy Ventures, with participation from Chevron Technology Ventures.
+ Paradromics, a Texas-based developer of brain-computer interfaces for severely paralyzed patients, raised $20 million in seed funding led by Prime Movers Lab, Westcott Investment Group, Dolby Family Ventures, Synergy Ventures, Pureland Global Venture, IT-Farm and Alpha Edison.
+ Vestwell, a New York City-based API technology platform for workplace savings and investing programs, raised $70 million in Series C financing led by Wells Fargo Strategic Capital and Fin Venture Capital, with participation from Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Manulife, Point72 and Nationwide Ventures, among others.
+ Phononic, a North Carolina-based solid-state cooling and heating tech firm, received $50 million in growth funding. The Sustainable Investing business within Goldman Sachs Asset Management made the investment.
+ TMRW Life Sciences, a NYC-based life-sciences company providing an automated platform for tracking, monitoring and storing frozen eggs and embryos for in-vitro fertilization, completed a $105 million Series C equity and debt financing led by Transformation Capital, Google Ventures, Casdin Capital, Peter Thiel, Anne and Susan Wojcicki and existing investors 5AM Ventures and Life Sciences Innovation Fund, among others.
BELOW THE FOLD (Summer Holiday Edition)
Ornamental: Christmas in July didn’t start the way you think, and it doesn’t mean what it used to.
Daycation: Behold, the “pop-up holiday,” a pandemic stress reliever – or is it?
Holiday road: How the 2021 holiday season will challenge U.S. retailers.
’Tis the season: The dubious past, present and future of Christmas in July.
Innovation celebration: Modernization never takes a holiday at coworking leader Bridgeworks, one of the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island. Check them out.
