Yule get there: Just 10 more days until Christmas, intrepid innovators, and you don’t need a calculator to know that makes it Dec. 15 out there.
It’s also Wednesday and the midpoint of this latest busy workweek, so take a break from the shopping, wrapping, baking and decorating and let’s catch up with our brilliant and bustling innovation economy.
Chemical attraction: A day for calcium carbonate (mostly aragonite and calcite) in crystalline form.
Ball and chain: If you appreciate that pearl of wisdom, you’ll love National Wear Your Pearls Day, which shines every Dec. 15 – replete with metaphors about protective layers and shaping beauty from tragedy.
By the numbers: Known originally as 1-2-3-4 cake – one cup of butter, two cups of sugar, three cups of flour, four eggs (and don’t forget a cup of milk, for good measure) – the cupcake also gets its due today, National Cupcake Day.
Chase that fairy cake with a nice cup of chamomile – the world’s most popular beverage (besides water) steams up on Dec. 15, known globally as International Tea Day.
Making amends: The Bill of Rights guaranteed a few things.
You got that rights: Speaking of popular innovations, the first 10 amendments to the U.S. Constitution – known collectively as the Bill of Rights – were ratified on this date in 1791.
There’s no vaccine against b@!!$#!+: Ill-conceived protests against COVID vaccine mandates are covered by the First Amendment, which guarantees freedom of speech and the right to petition the government – but the truth is, public school vaccine requirements have been on the books since Boston schools first required smallpox vaccinations on Dec. 15, 1827.
Jurisdictions across the country quickly passed similar laws – but thanks to protests and legal challenges, the nefarious smallpox virus wasn’t fully eradicated until 1979.
Sustained winds: Still the inflation-adjusted highest-grossing box office draw of all time, “Gone With the Wind” premiered on Dec. 15, 1939.
The Deep South saga runs nearly four hours, but it could have been longer: The first screenplay draft based on author Margaret Mitchell’s Pulitzer Prize-winning epic would have run nearly seven hours.
That was close: The first space rendezvous – with manned U.S. capsules Gemini 6 and Gemini 7 maneuvering within 10 feet of each other – occurred in Earth orbit 56 years ago today.
History, for the win: And bona fide 1980s phenomenon Trivial Pursuit was first conceived on this date in 1979 – according to the story, by two Canadian journalists squaring off over a Scrabble board.
Dyson: Best guesses.
Sphere of influence: English-American theoretical and mathematical physicist Freeman Dyson (1923-2020) – whose work in quantum mechanics, astrophysics and other high-concept areas was so advanced it bordered on insane, including theorized alien habitats known as Dyson Spheres – would be 98 years old today.
Also born on Dec. 15 were American inventor Hannah Wilkinson Slater (1774-1812), who may have been the first woman to earn a U.S. patent (or maybe not); French civil engineer Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923), a famed bridge-maker who also designed a fairly well-known Parisian tower; Polish ophthalmologist L.L. Zamenhof (1859-1917), who created Esperanto, the world’s most widely used constructed language; Danish physician Niels Finsen (1860-1904), the founder of modern phototherapy; and industrious American engineer Charles Duryea (1861-1938), who launched the first U.S. company to manufacture gasoline-powered vehicles.
Be direct: And take a bow, Julie Taymor! The American film and stage director – the first woman to win a Tony Award for directing a Broadway musical (1997’s “The Lion King”) – turns 69 today.
Wish the groundbreaking auteur well at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips help us Feel the Love Tonight and your calendar events complete our Circle of Life.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Good reef: With the U.S. offshore wind industry puffing up – including plans in the New York Blight, which tips off Montauk Point and is part of a national offshore-lease bonanza that could generate $120 billion in private investments – conservationists are focusing hard on marine ecosystems.
Washington-based global conservation organization The Nature Conservancy and Rhode Island-based environmental consultant Inspire Environmental have released “Turbine Reefs: Nature-Based Designs for Augmenting Offshore Wind Structures in the United States,” a 36-page report focused on the burgeoning industry. But instead of lamenting massive wind-turbine fields and their effects on indigenous marine life, the report outlines a “massive opportunity to create, enhance and expand marine habitat for native fish, shellfish and other species,” according to a statement from The Nature Conservancy.
The big idea: artificial reefs at the bottom of offshore wind turbines. With the health of Earth’s oceans “at grave risk,” The Nature Conservancy will champion clean renewable energy development and “highlight how offshore wind can be part of the climate and biodiversity solution,” according to Offshore Wind Policy Manager Tricia Jedele, while Inspire Environmental CEO Drew Carey noted “an excellent chance to … enhance seafloor habitat.”
Shenglong Zhang: Riding the nucleotides.
Zhang boom: A New York Institute of Technology RNA modification laboratory is sharing in a $12 million federal program targeting next-level RNA mutations.
The heavy-duty science falls this time to The Zhang Lab, home base of New York Tech Associate Professor of Life Sciences Shenglong Zhang, who’s been named a key principal investigator in a consortium of nationwide laboratories forming the new Center for Excellence in Genomic Science. Funded by a five-year grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health’s National Human Genome Research Institute, the multiheaded center – including laboratories at Duke University in North Carolina, the University of California-San Francisco and New York City’s Weill Cornell Medicine and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital – supports scientists determining how mutations created by RNA modification can change gene behavior.
Zhang’s lab – where the mission is to modify nucleotides and monitor the effects on cancer, diabetes and other conditions – will have a first-year budget of roughly $700,000, with $2 million-plus expected through 2026. “This new research center is a big step forward for this field,” Zhang said, adding his work would help “reveal the true sequence of an RNA.”
POD PEOPLE
Episode 13: Michael Cardinuto, paranormal pioneer.
The great conversations keep coming on Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast, with educators, entrepreneurs and executives from across the Long Island innovation economy sharing their wisdom, experience and frontline perspectives.
Sponsored by clean energy pioneer ThermoLift, Season 2 raises the bar on intelligent discourse and enlightening content – so much to learn, so easy to click here and learn it!
TOP OF THE SITE
O, Canada: Its first residential installations north of the border mark a major forward step for ThermoLift’s revolutionary TC3 clean-gen heat pump.
Masked zinger: Governor Kathy Hochul has reinstated public mask-wearing protocols in New York State – and placed the blame squarely on the unvaccinated.
Santa secret: This season, give yourself the gift of not having to forward this amazing newsletter to your entire innovation team three times each week – individual subscriptions are always easy, always free.
VOICES
Decades after formulating them, Voices historian Tom Mariner still relies on the smart-hiring principles that helped him and his innovation teams – separated by years, united by purpose – change the course of computing history.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Let it snow: How the Grinch – a.k.a. climate change – stole your white Christmas. CNN warms up.
Let it grow: How “intelligent soil sensors” can reduce overfertilization. Technology Networks digs in.
Let it go: How to take a tech break over your Christmas vacation. Condé Nast Traveler unplugs.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Sandboxx, a Washington-based platform supporting military personnel from recruitment to retirement, closed an $8 million growth-funding round. Backers included Boathouse Capital, PenFed Foundation and others.
+ Nuvocargo, a New York City-based digital platform supporting United States/Mexico trade, raised $20.5 million in funding led by Tiger Global Management, with participation from The Flexport Fund, Kavak and existing major investors QED Investors and NFX.
+ Robotic Research, a Maryland-based global leader in autonomous mobility and robotics solutions, raised $228 million in Series A funding. Investors included SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, Enlightenment Capital, Crescent Cove Advisors, Henry Crown and Company and Luminar Technologies.
+ Logical Buildings, a NYC-based sustainability, smart building and virtual power plant software and solutions provider, closed a $10 million funding round led by Keyframe Capital.
+ Zorus, a Connecticut-based cybersecurity software company, closed a $9 million Series A funding led by Asymmetric Capital Partners, Innospark Ventures and General Catalyst.
+ Cerebral Inc., a California-based online mental-health company, closed a $300 million Series C funding round led by SoftBank’s Vision Fund 2, Prysm Capital, Access Industries, WestCap Group and ARTIS Ventures.
BELOW THE FOLD
Bang it out: Not the same old song and dance.
On dasher: DoorDash couriers are exacting revenge against non-tippers.
On dancers: Updating “West Side Story’s” choreography for modern audiences.
On call: Why it’s harder for U.S. workers to request time off.
On target: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Nixon Peabody, where sights are set on your brightest business future. Check them out.
