Break in the action: Welcome to Wednesday, dear readers, as we plow straight into the heart of December – now just 17 shopping days until Christmas, and counting – and straight through another late-autumn workweek.
Let’s take a breather from the buying, giftwrapping, menu planning and travel arrangements – not to mention all this rampant socioeconomic progress – and catch up on some innovation news. Maybe sip a warm beverage. We’ve earned it.
Sleeping giant: The dreadnought USS Virginia was partially sunk by Japanese torpedoes on Dec. 7, 1941, but would rise again.
Longhand: It’s Dec. 7 out there, a wartime date that of course lives in infamy, but also a big one for peacetime pen pals – National Letter Writing Day, when we’re encouraged to drop the smartphone and write it all out.
We’re further urged today to raise some spun sugar – and maybe a toothbrush – to National Cotton Candy Day, also sticking around every Dec. 7.
Curtain call: Speaking of sticktoitiveness, London’s Royal Opera House – which opened on this date in 1732 – is still going strong, two post-fire reconstructions later.
First place: Also plugging along is the State of Delaware, which became the first state to ratify the new Federal Constitution on Dec. 7, 1787.
That old chestnut: The current New York Philharmonic, still playing the standards.
Philler copy: As is the New York Philharmonic, which played its first public concert on this date in 1842.
Play it again: Instant replays have been around since 59 years ago today, when the CBS Television Network rolled back a few key plays during the annual Army-Navy football game.
Drop zone: And NASA’s Galileo spacecraft entered Jupiter orbit on Dec. 7, 1995, after a six-year journey that began with the launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis in October 1989.
The orbiter – which would circle Jupiter and return crucial data until 2003 – immediately dropped a 750-pound probe, which hit the Jovian atmosphere at 100,000 miles per hour and became the first Earth device to fly through the atmosphere of a gas giant.
Planet fitness: Dutch astronomer, author and professor Gerard Peter Kuiper (1905-1973) – who discovered Solar System moons and icy comet clusters and is considered the father of modern planetary science – would be 117 years old today.
Scary good: Burstyn (right), with her hands full in “The Exorcist.”
Also born on Dec. 7 were German physiologist Theodor Schwann (1810-1882), who founded modern histology; American psychologist Eleanor Gibson (1910-2002), a pioneer of reading development; American “triple crown” actress Ellen Burstyn (born 1932), who collected an Oscar, a Tony and two Primetime Emmys; American folk-rocker Harry Chapin (1942-1981), an enduring hero of Long Island food insecurity; and American baseball legend John Lee “Johnny” Bench (born 1947), the Cincinnati Reds’ Hall of Fame backstop.
Chomsky at the bit: And take a bow, Avram Noam Chomsky! The American linguist, philosopher, historian, social critic and all-around public intellectual – a noted political activist credited with sparking and sustaining the “cognitive revolution” – turns 94 today.
Wish the analytical philosopher well at editor@innovateli.com, where intellect, philosophy and history are all served by your news tips and calendar events.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Forget something? Statistical aggregator Research.com’s first-ever ranking of the Best Female Scientists in the World counts three Long Island-based women researchers among the planet’s brightest – but misses some easy layups.
Ranking 1,000 women scientists from World No. 1 JoAnn Manson (a Harvard Medical School professor) to World No. 1,000 Karine Clément (a nutrition professor at Sorbonne Université in Paris), the inaugural breakdown includes three LI scientists: Brookhaven National Laboratory neuroscientist Joanna Fowler, a leading biologist who ranked 60th nationally and 90th globally; Stony Brook University Renaissance School of Medicine Distinguished Professor of Psychiatry Evelyn Bromet (506th nationally, 812th globally); and Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Adjunct Professor Doreen Ware (839th, 524th), an ace molecular biologist.
The rankings – which somehow overlooked molecular medicine pioneer Betty Diamond of the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research, all-world materials scientist Esther Takeuchi of SBU and BNL and several other amazing Long Island women – were based on what Research.com called “meticulous examination” of 166,880 scientists on Google Scholar and the Microsoft Academic Graph as of June 12, 2021.
Long view: Writer-director Hunter exposes lingering fallout from the Three Mile Island disaster, more than 40 years later.
Nuclear family: A new feature-length documentary by a Stony Brook University professor sheds new light on one of history’s most notorious nuclear accidents.
“Radioactive: The Women of Three Mile Island” premiered Sunday at New York City’s Dances with Films Independent Film Festival, followed by an in-person Q&A with director Heidi Hunter, an SBU associate professor of ecofeminism and environmental justice. Hunter, who also wrote and produced the documentary, chronicles people directly affected by the 1979 partial meltdown of the Pennsylvania plant’s Unit 2 reactor, still the most significant commercial nuclear accident in U.S. history.
Including a guest appearance by actress and activist Jane Fonda – who’s fictional nuclear-meltdown flick “The China Syndrome” premiered 12 days before the Three Mile Island accident – the unrated, unflinching film centers on several prominent women, including a scientist independently investigating the accident’s long-term effects, a reporter who covered the initial crisis, concerned community mothers and two attorneys who’ve taken Three Mile Island cases all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. See the trailer here.
POD PEOPLE
Episode 27: Dawn Smallwood, live patrol.
From the upper echelons of regional energy to the wild blue yonder to the creepiest corners of human imagination, from law enforcement’s cutting edge to social justice’s front lines, Season 3 of Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast has raised the intellectual bar – once again.
Sponsored by Huntington-based message master Brandtelling, entertaining and educational Season 3 continues next week – hear what you’ve been missing.
TOP OF THE SITE
Human Canon: People power is in effect at Melville-based Canon USA, which leveraged real human feedback into new hybrid collaboration and VR technologies. The Innovate LI Debrief returns with Canon USA Vice President Shinya Fukuda.
Group dynamic: Keep your entire innovation team up to speed throughout 2023 – entertaining and educational Innovate Long Island newsletter subscriptions are always easy, always free.
VOICES
An incredible ensemble of regional leaders – experts in law, workforce development, marketing, medicine, social services, education and other critical sectors – have made Innovate Long Island’s Voices column a must-read resource for entrepreneurs, executives and everyone in between. More than 180 insightful lessons are waiting for you now.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Wonders: From sovereign rulers to exemplary executives to T-Swizzle, meet the World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. Presenting Forbes’ leading ladies.
Paradox principle: There are now 8 billion-plus humans – too many, or not enough? Speculative Vox crunches numbers.
West, going south: There’s no comedy left in Kanye West’s mental illness – and no defense for his supporters or dinner hosts. Conservative National Review embraces truth.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Stony Creek Colors, a Tennessee-based natural indigo dye manufacturer, raised $4.8 million in Series B2 funding led by Lewis & Clark AgriFood and Levi Strauss & Co.
+ BeeHero, a California-based precision pollination innovator, raised $42 million in Series B funding led by Convent Capital, with participation from General Mills, Cibus Capital, Rabobank, MS&AD, Firstime, J-Ventures, Plug & Play, iAngels, Gaingels and UpWest.
+ Elephant Energy, a Colorado-based home-electrification platform for homeowners and contractors, raised $3.5 million in seed funding led by Building Ventures, Daniel Gulati, Workshop and Reuben Munger.
+ iECURE, a Pennsylvania-based biotech focused on gene editing, raised $65 million in Series A-1 funding led by Novo Holdings A/S, LYFE Capital, Versant Ventures and OrbiMed Advisors.
+ Carbon Reform, a Delaware-based environmental startup focused on CO2 reduction, raised $3 million in seed funding led by Azolla Ventures, Virya LLC, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Plug and Play Ventures, Gaingels and Preston Schell.
+ AllWork, a New York City-based freelancer management and payments platform, raised $4.9 million in Series A funding led by Fintop Capital.
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 Farmingdale State). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (On Your Toes Edition)
Of all the cluck: Investigators have tracked a long-running European salmonella outbreak to pre-cooked chicken.
Killer sandwich: Beware undercooked chicken, European traveler.
Naughty list: Beware these holiday scams, warns the FBI.
Happy new fear: Beware January, the deadliest month.
Fearless: Please continue supporting the incredible institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including Farmingdale State College, where fortune favors the bold – and the well-educated. Check them out.
