You made it! Congratulations, dear readers … you’ve survived aftershocks, solar eclipses and the first half of this very busy workweek to reach another all-downhill-from-here hump day.
Before we brave the second half of the week (with more April showers on the way, of course), give that indomitable spirit a five-minute break and enjoy this peppy innovation review.
Pen pals: Today’s the day to support the young writers in your life.
Write on: It’s April 10 out there, a.k.a. Encourage a Young Writer Day, when we’re meant to buoy boys and girls who might someday write the Great American Novel or an Oscar-winning screenplay – or, if they’re really good, a kitschy innovation-economy newsletter.
Hugs all around: From the Embraceable You File comes two annual holidays worth holding tight – today is both National Siblings Day, when sisters and brothers (including half-sibs and step-sibs) earn bonus affection, and National Hug Your Dog Day, when we give an extra squeeze to our furry best friends.
And from the Department of Fairly Specific Foodstuffs comes National Cinnamon Crescent Day, celebrating the cinnamon bun’s sibling – flaky crescent rolls, sweet sugar and spicy cinnamon, hold the icing – every April 10.
Patently awesome: As you, your siblings and your dog surely know, the first U.S. patent was issued on July 31, 1790, to a Pennsylvania farmer who invented a method of making the fertilizer ingredient potash – but it wouldn’t have been without the Patent Act of 1790, the first American patent law, which was passed by Congress on April 10 of that year.
Put a pin in it: Inventor Walter Hunt’s safety innovation earned a U.S. patent 175 years ago today.
Safety first: The nation’s first IP law was put to good use on this date in 1849, when New York City-based inventor Walter Hunt fastened the rights to the safety pin.
Tree’s company: Also pinning down a spot in history were the Nebraskans who seeded the first American Arbor Day 152 years ago today, planting about 1 million trees across the freshly minted 37th U.S. State. (This year’s National Arbor Day is set for April 26, for those keeping score.)
In their DNA: Also branching out were UK neighbors England and Wales, which established the world’s first National DNA Database on this date in 1995 as a crime-fighting technology.
When 4 years old you reach, look as good you will not: And it was April 10, 2004, when dwarf mouse Yoda – officially recognized as the world’s oldest mouse – celebrated his milestone fourth birthday (the equivalent of turning 136 in human years) at the University of Michigan Medical School.
About one-third smaller than your average mouse (judge him by his size, do you?), Yoda lived in a pathogen-free rest home for geriatric lab mice with a larger female named Princess Leia. (For the record, he became one with The Force 12 days later, having more than doubled the typical dwarf-mouse lifespan.)
You’re in the army now: English Methodist preacher William Booth (1829-1912) – who along with his wife, Catherine, cofounded the quasi-military, all-Christian Salvation Army and became its first general – would be 195 years old today.
Designing woman: Ruth Carter’s vivid imagination helped bring Wakanda from page to screen.
Also born on April 10 were Scottish physicist and mathematician Sir John Leslie (1766-1832), who invented artificial ice; American inventor Frank Baldwin (1838-1925), who developed several early mechanical calculators; Hungarian American soldier, publisher and politician Joseph Pulitzer (1847-1911), who changed journalism forever; French chemist Paul-Louis-Toussaint Héroult (1863-1914), who heated up steel manufacturing with the electric-arc furnace; and American labor leader and civil rights activist Dolores Clara Fernández Huerta (born 1930), who cofounded the United Farmworkers Association.
She’s got the look: And take a bow, Ruth E. Carter! The celebrated film and television costume designer – the first Black woman to win multiple Academy Awards, creating the on-screen look for stars ranging from Oprah Winfrey and Chadwick Boseman to Angela Bassett and Eddie Murphy – turns 64 today.
Give the legendary designer your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we always dress up your news tips and give your calendar events a touch of theatrical flair.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Application stage: The Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame is cranking up the amplifier on its annual scholarship program.
Not only has the LIMEHOF doubled the monetary awards per scholarship (from $500 to $1,000, funded solely by the Stony Brook-based museum), it’s increased the number of scholarships being offered, from four in years gone by to five last year (including the one-off Pat DeRosa Memorial Scholarship) to 10 this year. The hall has also widened its application process, opening the scholarships – which target Nassau, Suffolk, Queens and Brooklyn high school seniors planning to pursue performance arts in college – to drama students, in addition to the traditional pool of musicians.
This year’s scholarship-application deadline is May 10 (including a short student essay covering education and career goals, a high school transcript highlighting a minimum 2.5 GPA and a letter of recommendation confirming the applicant’s dedication to music or drama). Applicants must be U.S. citizens or legal residents and must demonstrate a financial need, among other eligibility criteria; application forms and more information available here.
Law enforcer: The Maurice A. Deane School of Law’s new head honcho is an accomplished legal scholar with expertise in criminal justice.
Deane dean: After a nationwide search, Hofstra University’s Maurice A. Deane School of Law has named its next dean.
Jenny Roberts, currently a law professor at the American University Washington College of Law and co-director of AUW’s Criminal Justice Clinic, is set to take the reins of Hofstra’s circa-1970 law school on July 1. She will succeed Interim Dean Julian Ku, a Distinguished Professor of Constitutional Law who’s filled the chair since last July, when he replaced the Hon. A. Gail Prudenti, now a partner at East Setauket-based Burner Prudenti Law and a former chief administrative judge of the Courts of New York State who served six years as leader of the Deane School.
Roberts is “a scholar and a nationally recognized leader in legal academia,” according to Hofstra University President Susan Poser, who said the law school is lucky to have her. “She is exactly the right person to continue the standard of excellence and to propel Hofstra Law to the next level,” Poser added. “We have found an outstanding leader and look forward to welcoming her to Hofstra University.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Collision course: New York State will contribute $100 million to Brookhaven National Laboratory’s $2.8 billion Electron-Ion Collider project, marking a major score for Long Island economics.
Previously, on “Spark”: At last … new episodes of “Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast” are on the way! Before they arrive, catch up with 40-plus enlightening and entertaining installments of the only podcast that goes one-on-one with the leaders of the Long Island innovation economy. Get up to speed.
VOICES
Thousands of New York State taxpayers utilize the “charitable checkoff” option on their annual NYS returns, but their generosity doesn’t always reach its intended targets – in fact, those donations often sit unused in state-managed holding accounts, according to Family and Children’s Association President/CEO and Voices Social Services Anchor Jeffrey Reynolds, who knows just what to do about it.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Disarming trend: Why arm injuries are plaguing baseball’s best hurlers. The Athletic delivers.
The new ball game: Lining up the unbelievable economics of Major League Baseball. Forbes scores.
Amazin’ avenue: There’s real business sense in the Mets’ long road back to contention. Vanity Fair rallies.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Alsym Energy, a Massachusetts-based manufacturer of non-flammable rechargeable batteries, raised $78 million in funding led by Tata Limited and General Catalyst.
+ Permiso, a California-based cloud-based threat-detection company, raised $18 million in Series A funding led by Altimeter Capital and Point72 Ventures.
+ Raven SR, a Wyoming-based renewable-fuels pioneer, raised $15 million in funding led by Ascent Funds, Chevron New Energies, ITOCHU Corp. and Stellar J Corp.
+ Proxima AI, a New York City-based data-intelligence software maker, closed a $12 million Series A funding led by Mucker Capital, Great Oaks and Venture Partners.
+ Obsidian Therapeutics, a Massachusetts-based clinical-stage biotech, raised $160.5 million in Series C funding led by Wellington Management.
+ EarliTec Diagnostics, a Georgia-based medical-device innovator, raised $21.5 million in Series B funding led by Nexus NeuroTech Ventures and Venture Investors Health Fund.
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 SUNY Old Westbury). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Head Games Edition)
Aaaaand … cut: Your long hair may be trying to tell you something.
Mindful: Human brains are getting bigger (but not necessarily smarter).
Painful: Why you had a headache after viewing the eclipse.
Plentiful: Five signs that you really need a haircut.
Head of the class: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including SUNY Old Westbury, where preparing exemplary graduates for successful futures is a combination of mind and matter. Check them out.
