Ides wide open: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, as we reach the midpoint of March (almost) and wrap up another busy workweek (definitely).
Yes, we’re a day short (and a dollar late?) of Julius Caesar’s dreaded Ides of March, but there’s nothing to fear – in a few hours, we’ll be kicking back for another well-earned weekend. Let’s be the masters of our fates!
Pi in the sky: This is only the beginning of the pi calculation, which goes on for another 50 trillion digits or so.
Pi in your face: If tomorrow is the Ides of March (which formerly celebrated the start of the new year, for those keeping score), today must be March 14 – a big one for mathematicians, who mark Pi Day, honoring the mathematical constant that calculates a circle’s circumference as a bit more than three times its width.
About 3.14 times, to be not quite exact (3/14, get it?). Pi has been factored out to something like 50 trillion digits past the decimal point, but wherever it ends, the seminal calculation – first cracked by the ancient mathematician Archimedes – applies to circles of any size.
Science fair: Sticking with the theme, today is also Celebrate Scientists Day, which prizes logic and empirical evidence over chaos and imperial delusions – and arrives this year at a time when scientists need all the help they can get. (Why embrace science on this particular date? Read on.)
And do you want chips with that? Dig in – it’s also National Potato Chip Day, crisping things up every March 14.
For the books: American inventor Eli Whitney achieved a major milestone in global agriculture on this date in 1794, when he patented the cotton gin.
For posterity: “Photography” became a thing on March 14, 1839, when English polymath John Herschel referenced the artform in a presentation to the Royal Society – the first documented use of the word.
For the birds: Also spreading his wings on this date was President Theodore Roosevelt, who established the first U.S. bird sanctuary 122 years ago today. (The Pelican Island National Wildlife Refuge is still protecting migratory white pelicans and other species off Florida’s east coast.)
Tax man: Warren Harding was the first U.S. President to file an income tax return and disclose it (which most Presidents, but not all, still do).
For the record: President Warren Harding became the first U.S. President to file a full-year income-tax return on this date in 1923, paying roughly $17,000 on his $75,000 chief executive salary and setting a Presidential public-disclosure precedence that’s been kinda hit-or-miss ever since.
For the gold: And it was March 14, 1958, when the newly established Recording Industry Association of American certified its first “gold record.”
Perry Como’s single “Catch a Falling Star” earned the honor, selling more than 1 million copies.
A real Einstein: German American theoretical scientist and mathematician Albert Einstein (1879-1955) – the Nobel Prize-winning progenitor of history’s most famous equation, a major force in everything from photoelectric effect to quantum mechanics and one of the most creative intellects in human history – would be 146 years old today.
Comeback kid: After disappointment in Tokyo, Simone Biles soared in Paris.
Also born on March 14 were Italian astronomer and senator Giovanni Schiaparelli (1835-1910), credited with discovering “canals” on Mars (though his actual discovery was lost in translation); British physician Sir Thomas Lauder Brunton (1844-1916), who helped establish pharmacology as a rigorous science; Norwegian meteorologist and physicist Vilhelm Bjerknes (1862-1951), a pioneer of modern weather forecasting; retired English actor Sir Michael Caine (born Maurice Micklewhite Jr., 1933), a British cultural icon; and American composer, arranger, producer, conductor, trumpeter, bandleader and film/TV producer Quincy Jones Jr. (1933-2024), a man of many talents.
Back on the (vaulting) horse: And take a bow, Simone Arianne Biles Owens! The American artistic gymnast – who overcame the “yips” at the 2020/21 Tokyo Summer Olympics to win three golds and a silver in the 2024 Paris Summer Olympics – turns 28 today.
Wish the courageous athlete well at editor@innovateli.com, where we don’t get the twisties when you don’t send news tips or calendar events (though we flip out when you do).
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BUT FIRST, THIS
About time: Albany is crowing about record on-time performances by the state’s busiest commuter railroads.
The Long Island Rail Road and the Metro-North Railroad, both managed by the New York City-based Metropolitan Transportation Authority, are killing it, insofar as ridership levels and on-time performances, according to a statement issued Wednesday by Gov. Kathy Hochul’s office. The LIRR is actually posting its all-time-best performance, with a 2025 year-to-date on-time rate of roughly 97 percent – about 3 percent better than the railroad’s monthly goal and nearly 2 percent better than 2024’s year-long rate of 95.65 percent, a record outside of COVID-impacted years 2020 and 2021.
Metro-North, meanwhile, posted a 100 percent on-time performance across all three of its lines on March 9 – the 21st time over the last two years the points-north railroad has recorded a daily 100 percent on-time performance. “Even with surging ridership and hundreds of trains running every day, MTA’s commuter railroads keep delivering better and better service,” noted MTA Chairman and CEO Janno Lieber. “LIRR and Metro-North continue to set the national standard for safe and reliable mass transit.”
Intervention innovation: Cognitive decline is not exclusive to the elderly, according to Lilianne Mujica-Parodi, who believes earlier-in-life interventions could be more effective.
Window treatments: Science has taken a bold step toward mitigating age-related mental decline.
In a landmark study published this month in the multidisciplinary science journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, an international team of researchers reports that brain aging follows a nonlinear trajectory with critical transition points. Tracking neuronal insulin resistance as the “primary driver” in 19,300-plus individual human brains, the team mapped an S-shaped statistical curve that belies contemporary beliefs about gradual linear declines or late-life clinical onsets, determining instead that “brain network” destabilization begins around age 44, accelerates most rapidly around age 67 and plateaus around age 90.
Lead author Lilianne Mujica-Parodi, a Stony Brook University professor of biomedical engineering and director of SBU’s Laboratory for Computational Neurodiagnostics, said understanding the non-linear path suggests the existence of specific windows when anti-deterioration intervention could be most impactful. “We’ve identified a critical midlife window where the brain begins to experience declining access to energy but before irreversible damage occurs,” Mujica-Parodi noted. “Understanding exactly when and how brain aging accelerates gives us strategic timepoints for intervention.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Well, well, wellness: An innovative IV therapy/vitamin infusion health-and-wellness business has increased its footprint (and its ambitions) in the Village of Roslyn.
Missing piece: Did you see the thing in Monday’s Calendar Newsletter about the exciting opportunity for … oh, you didn’t? That’s odd, since the Monday newsletter is sent directly to subscribers and … oh, you don’t have a subscription? Well, that’s silly, since they’re always easy, always free.
ICYMI
With a unique mix of old-fashioned inventiveness and collaborative computer science, the Adelphi University Innovation Center is guiding students – and the entire Long Island innovation economy – along the cutting edge, thanks largely to the leadership of Director Lee Stemkoski.
Something to say? Welcome to The Entrepreneur’s Edge, Innovate Long Island’s new promoted-content news feature platform – a direct link from you to our innovation-focused audience. Progressive product to promote? Singular service to sell? Sociopolitical position to push? Shine a bright light on the big picture, the little details and everything in between with The Entrepreneur’s Edge. Living on the edge.
BEST OF THE WEST (AND SOMETIMES NORTH/SOUTH)
Innovate LI’s inbox overrunneth with inspirational innovations from all North American corners. This week’s brightest out-of-towners:
From Washington: District of Columbia-based business intelligence innovator e:cue emerges from stealth with artificial intelligence-driven marketing and sales platform.
From Washington State: Bellevue-based specialty ingredients champion ChemPoint streamlines nutrition and personal-care protocols with innovative online guide.
From Maryland: Rockville-based space operations spearhead Quantum Space lengthens satellite-mission longevity with transformative life-extension services.
ON THE MOVE
Ronald Jackson
+ Ronald Jackson has been appointed vice president for student affairs at Farmingdale State College. Jackson, who will serve as a member of the President’s Cabinet and lead the Division of Student Affairs, was vice president of student affairs and dean of students at CUNY-Brooklyn College.
+ Imran Ansari has been hired as head of economic development for Downstate New York at National Grid’s Melville office. He was political director at the Long Island Federation of Labor in Hauppauge.
+ Bohemia-based P.W. Grosser Consulting has announced several hires:
- Assistant Project Manager Mina Ajmal was the founding director of the International School of Leadership and Diplomacy in Manhattan.
- Office Assistant Jacquelyn Baric was an assistant project coordinator at the Telecom Planning Corp. in Bohemia.
- Project Engineer Jason Blizzard was a principal engineering aide/GIS administrator/clean energy coordinator for the Town of Riverhead.
- Senior Engineer Jerry Feagans was a senior design engineer at Key Civil Engineering in Holtsville.
- Senior Environmental Planner Deirdre Ryan was a senior planner for the Village of Port Jefferson.
- Staff Engineer Ashaan Sibley was project manager/field engineer at Tonage Inc. in Westbury.
- Field Hydrogeologist Maddie Willett is a recent graduate of the State University at Buffalo.
+ Beata Walerych-Janus has been promoted to supervisor of the Health and Safety Training and Information Service at Nassau BOCES in Garden City. She was a safety training program manager.
+ Corey Lein has been promoted to director of programs for the Levittown campus of Variety Child Learning Center. She was a principal.
+ Yaryl Gonzalez has been promoted to Nassau County public affairs manager at National Grid’s Melville office. She was the Downstate New York community coordinator for offshore wind.
+ Uniondale-based Rivkin Radler has announced the hiring of two new associate attorneys:
- Jaana Singhhas joined the firm’s Insurance Fraud Practice Group. She was a law clerk at Gilbert Law in New York City.
- Melissa Lee has joined the firm’s Trusts & Estates Practice Group. She was an associate at Holm & O’Hara in New York City.
+ Tiffany Powell has been appointed chief nursing officer and associate executive director for patient care services at Long Island Jewish Medical Center. She was chief nursing officer at LIJ Forest Hills Hospital.
+ Laura LaCava has joined Westbury-based Campolo, Middleton & McCormick as a senior bookkeeper. She earned a bachelor’s degree in justice administration from DeVry University.
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 Brandtelling). Gregory Zeller can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Grocery Bills Edition)
Meat market: Yes, that ribeye does cost an arm and a leg.
What’s at steak: Why beef prices are suddenly sky-high.
Growing interest: A comprehensive guide to plant-based foods.
Making egg-ceptions: Delicious, decent and simply awful egg substitutes.
Weekly special: Please continue supporting the amazing agencies that support Innovate Long Island, including Brandtelling, which offers a long grocery list of (affordable) story-first suggestions to help your enterprise bag new business. Check them out.
