Full steam: Welcome to another warm Wednesday in our lovely Northern Hemisphere, dear readers, as summer temperatures soar and socioeconomic progress sizzles.
It’s July 13 out there, and your favorite innovation newsletter is here to help you keep cool – so crank that AC and let’s learn some new stuff.
Full of beans: Let’s be frank.
Chewing the fat: We begin with a slice of Beef Tallow Day, an annual celebration of the chunky animal wax used as a nutritional substitute for less-wholesome cooking oils.
No summer vacation, meanwhile, would be complete without National Beans ’N Franks Day, good for the heart every July 13.
Side job: Whatever proteins and veggies you choose today, you’ll want fries with that – a basic requirement on National French Fry Day, also dipped in mayo (yeah, we said it) every July 13.
Tele us more: Master Italian innovator Guglielmo Marconi likely preferred patatine fritte to French fries, but either way, he earned a U.S. patent for his groundbreaking wireless telegraph machine on this date in 1897 – one of several international protections Marconi earned throughout his cornerstone career.
Cutting room: It was Hollywoodland, until the editors got a hold of it.
“Land” lost: Still counted among the most iconic American landmarks, Los Angeles’ famous “Hollywood” sign – it actually read “Hollywoodland” until a 1949 renovation – was officially dedicated on July 13, 1923.
Young Blue Eyes: Back on the East Coast, up-and-coming New Jersey crooner Frank Sinatra cut his first album on this date in 1939, paired with legendary trumpeter Harry James.
Darkest hour: Just across the Hudson, the lights went out on Broadway – and everywhere else in New York City – 45 years ago tonight, kicking off the Big Apple’s Great Blackout of 1977.
More than 24 hours of fires and riots, leading to 4,500-plus arrests and a then-whopping $61 million in citywide property damages, isn’t a great example of innovation – but plenty of innovation followed, in electricity distribution, law enforcement, even hip-hop music.
Live, from Philadelphia and London: And it was July 13, 1983, when Live Aid – an all-star, all-world benefit for Ethiopian famine relief – took the stage(s) at Philadelphia’s JFK Stadium and London’s Wembley Stadium.
The two-headed, 16-hour “superconcert” – a triumph of technology and goodwill viewed by more than a billion people in 110 nations – raised $127 million for the cause.
Mass appeal: American industrialist Simeon North (1765-1852) – a pistol and rifle expert who ushered mass production, and became a large-scale military supplier, by pioneering interchangeable parts in manufacturing – would be 257 years old today.
Built Ford tough: Still whipping things up, Harrison turns 80 today.
Also born on July 13 were American psychologist June Etta Downey (1875-1932), a pioneer of personality and handwriting studies; American astronomer Donald Osterbrock (1924-2007), his era’s foremost authority on the history of astronomy; American actor Harrison Ford (born 1942), a box-office lock boasting $6.2 billion in aggregate global ticket sales, and counting; Hungarian architecture professor Ernő Rubik (born 1944), who delivered a historic twist; and American science writer, blogger and journalist Carl Zimmer (born 1966), a popular author and frequent contributor to The New York Times and National Geographic.
Make it so: And take a bow, Sir Patrick Stewart! The English actor, producer and director – who went from Shakespearean stages to some of popular entertainment’s most iconic rolls – turns 82 today.
Give Stewart – and “Star Trek” Capt. Jean-Luc Picard, who’ll be born on this date in 2305 – your best at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips and calendar events span the generations.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Step by sepsis: The Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research is stalking a nefarious condition responsible for 30 percent of all hospital-based deaths.
Northwell Health’s Manhasset-based research-and-development mothership has landed a five-year, $2.5 million National Institutes of Health grant earmarked for groundbreaking research into the molecular mechanisms of sepsis. The condition, estimated to kill 270,000 Americans annually, occurs when the immune system triggers inflammation throughout the body to fight off perceived infection – but instead damages otherwise healthy organic systems, and ultimately shuts them down.
Specifically, the research – led by Feinstein Institutes Professor and Chief Scientific Officer Ping Wang – will focus on extracellular cold inducible RNA-binding protein, a recently discovered molecular pattern associated with sepsis-related damage. “With the continued support of the NIH, we will be able to discover further the underlying mechanisms that trigger sepsis,” Wang predicted, adding the research could “ultimately lead to new drugs and treatment.”
Susan Poser: Retention strategy.
Team approach: Two Long Island institutions will share a $5 million National Science Foundation grant designed to usher high-achieving students from underserved Long Island communities into STEM fields.
Hofstra University and Nassau Community College have been awarded the six-year grant to establish a funneling program for students from Freeport, Hempstead, Roosevelt and Uniondale public schools, who will begin their post-high school studies – in engineering, biology, mathematics, computer science and other key areas – at NCC, before finishing their bachelor’s degrees at Hofstra. Qualifying students will receive financial scholarships, professional mentoring and academic support from both institutions.
Nassau Community College Biology Professor Jacqueline Lee, co-principal investigator of the NSF grant, said both schools “will realize a new level of commitment in promoting STEM curriculum to produce future leaders in these fields,” while Hofstra University President Susan Poser trumpeted new “pathways for talented students” to study in-demand STEM disciplines. “This program … will support the retention and graduation of high-achieving students with demonstrated financial need,” Poser added.
POD PEOPLE
Episode 26: Paule Pachter, food fighter.
With a tragic backstory, a heroic calling and hundreds of thousands of food-insecure Long Islanders in the balance, Long Island Cares-The Harry Chapin Food Bank is one of the region’s busiest and most innovative operations.
Chief Executive Officer Paule Pachter joins Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast to discuss the food bank’s unique 40-year history, his decade-and-a-half at the helm and the immense logistical challenges of distributing millions of pounds of food to an ever-increasing number of hungry children, seniors and veterans, among others in need. Season 3 continues!
TOP OF THE SITE
Go fund us: Is Albany’s $350 million Long Island Investment Fund just a gubernatorial campaign ploy? Doesn’t matter, if it does what it promises for Long Island.
Subscribe it forward: That was so nice of your fellow innovator to sign you up for this always easy, always free, always awesome newsletter. Keep it going!
VOICES
We’ve never seen anything like the United States Supreme Court’s recently concluded term, with numerous direct effects on Long Island socioeconomics – and with the court’s conservative supermajority intact, no established case law may be safe, according to Sahn Ward Braff Koblenz Partner and Voices legal anchor Michael Sahn.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Resistance is fertile: The government is winning the fight against quantum hackers who don’t actually exist yet. Gizmodo breaks space-time.
Not the cloud you expected: Exploring the moral and legal implications of digital life after physical death. Morning Brew goes beyond.
Musky business: Elon might take a beating in court over the Twitter-sale debacle. Slate presents evidence.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Inspirna, a New York City-based clinical-stage biopharma, raised $50 million in Series D funding led by Sands Capital, Vivo Capital, Dreavent 6, Novo Holdings A/S, Sofinnova Partners, Sixty Degree Capital Fund, New York City Investment Fund and Lepu Holdings.
+ Sortera Alloys, an Indiana-based, AI-powered industrial-scrap recycling engineer, raised $10 million in funding led by Assembly Ventures, Breakthrough Energy Ventures and Novelis.
+ VulcanForms, a Massachusetts-based MIT-born digital-manufacturing pioneer, raised $355 million in funding led by Eclipse Ventures, Stata Venture Partners, Fontinalis Partners, D1 Capital Partners and the Simkins Family, among others.
+ Atomo Coffee, a Washington State-based food-tech developing bean-less coffees, raised $40 million in Series A funding led by S2G Ventures, AgFunder and Horizons Ventures.
+ LiveOak Fiber, a Georgia-based regional broadband provider, raised $150 million in funding led by InfraRed Capital Partners.
+ Moving Analytics, a California-based telehealth provider focused on cardiovascular prevention programs, raised a $20 million Series A financing round co-led by Wellington Access Ventures and Seae Ventures, Philips Ventures, SteelSky Ventures, Aphelion Capital, Nueterra Capital and Citi Ventures.
Like this newsletter? Innovate Long Island newsletter, website and podcast sponsorships are a prime opportunity to reach the inventors, investors, entrepreneurs and executives you need to know (just ask Nixon Peabody). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Nano Nano Edition)
Building block: Nanobots can use a single DNA strand to assemble microscopic structures.
Biomedical breakthrough: Nanotechnology can construct microscopic structures from DNA strands.
Wrist of fate: A self-powered nanomaterial device can track your health, sans battery.
That’s a mouthful: Shapeshifting nanobots will soon clean your teeth.
Big picture: Please continue supporting the amazing firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Nixon Peabody, which applies microscopic detail to every macro success strategy. Check them out.
