Faster than it looks: Wednesday already! And just like that, you’re halfway through this latest speedy workweek – well done, racing readers!
It’s Jan. 25 out there, and we’re hurtling along with you – and hurdling, too, as we clear the hump with this rapid innovation review (a “quick read,” as they say). Step on it!
Crunchatize me, captain: Enjoy a crispy and delicious fish taco today.
Combo plate: If there’s a better daily menu combo than today’s, we don’t know it, starting with National Fish Taco Day – a celebration of the lightly battered, fully awesome global favorite.
Today also brews up another of our top international delights – National Irish Coffee Day, mixing strong coffee with whiskey and sugar and topping it generously with cream (and a drizzle of crème de menthe, if you’re lucky). Sip responsibly!
Mint condition: After all that fish, coffee and whiskey, you might want to freshen up – fortunately, it’s also National Fluoride Day, an annual tooth-health homage brushing up every Jan. 25.
Dental roots: You know who has a pretty robust dental school? The highly rated and regarded University of Virginia, which was chartered on this date in 1819, thanks primarily to Founding Father Thomas Jefferson.
A Coke and a smile: You know what’s bad for teeth? Soda pop. But don’t tell that to Massachusetts inventor Gustavus Dows, the “father of the American soda fountain,” who patented his improved fountain on Jan. 25, 1870.
Call me maybe: Bell (shown here in 1892, ringing Chicago from New York) went the distance with Edison in 1881 and Watson in 1915.
Long distances: Less-periodontally-challenging inventors associated with this date include Alexander Graham Bell and Thomas Edison, who established the Oriental Telephone Company of New York and Angle-Indian Telephone Company Ltd. 142 years ago today, aiming to sell telephones across Greece, Turkey, India, Japan and China.
Call back: Exactly 34 years later – on Jan. 25, 1915 – Bell (in New York City) and longtime collaborator Thomas Watson (in San Francisco) completed North America’s first transcontinental telephone call.
Light reading: And speaking of coast-to-coast hits, it was this date in 1937 when “The Guiding Light” first shined – or at least it sounded that way, with the popular soap opera debuting on the NBC Radio Network.
The saga of the Bauers, the Spauldings and the other families of fictional Springfield would transfer to television in 1952 (without the “The”) and keep on guiding until it was finally canceled in 2009 – all told, an impressive 72-year run.
Rabbie, to friends: Scottish poet and lyricist Robert Burns (1759-1796) – a tenant farmer, tax collector and “pre-Romantic poet” of the Scots language (and sometimes English) regarded as the national poet of Scotland – would be 264 years old today.
Etta better: James overcame numerous obstacles to stage a late 1980s comeback.
Also born on Jan. 25 were inventive British optician George Dollond (1774-1852), who refocused astronomy and navigation; English author Virginia Woolf (1882-1941), who took readers “To The Lighthouse” and pioneered stream of consciousness as a literary device; Russian American geneticist Theodosius Dobzhansky (1900-1975), a central figure of evolutionary biology; German poet and novelist Eva Zeller (1923-2022), no relation; and iconic American singer Etta James (born Jamesetta Hawkins, 1938-2012), who defined a generation’s worth of gospel, jazz, blues and R&B.
Man among manga: And take a bow, Leiji Matsumoto! The Japanese manga/anime artist – legendary creator of “Space Battleship Yamato” and other genre standouts – turns 85 today.
Give the cornerstone creator of “The Cockpit” your best at editor@innovateli.com, where your news tips are a Harlock and your calendar events take the Galaxy Express straight to the top.
About our sponsor: St. Joseph’s University has provided a diverse population of students in the New York metropolitan area with an affordable education rooted in the liberal arts tradition since 1916. The independent and coeducational university provides a strong academic and value-oriented education at the undergraduate and graduate levels, preparing each student for a life characterized by integrity, intellectual rigor, social responsibility, spiritual depth and service. Through its Long Island, Brooklyn and online campuses, the university offers degrees in 60 majors, special course offerings and certificates and affiliated and pre-professional programs. Learn more here.
BUT FIRST, THIS
Dissertation celebration: A Stony Brook University doctoral candidate with a penchant for computational neuroscience has authored one of the best PhD dissertations in the state, according to SUNY.
The State University of New York has announced the winners of this year’s Chancellor Distinguished PhD Graduate Dissertation Awards, which commend top research into pressing societal needs. First place (including a $5,000 research stipend) went to Arshad Arjunan Nair of the University at Albany, who dissertated on ammonia in the atmosphere; five finalists earned $1,000 each, including SBU College of Engineering and Applied Sciences PhD candidate Josue Nassar, who penned “Bayesian Machine Learning for Analyzing and Controlling Neural Populations.”
Bayesian Machine Learning, of course, turns Bayes’ Theorem into statistical models – and the future-focused expertise of top students like Nassar is exactly what the Dissertation Awards are all about, according to SUNY Chancellor John King Jr. “The exceptional recipients … will undoubtedly go on to spark new ideas and change the way we think about everything from cloud formation to cognitive function,” the chancellor added.
Space station: Looking a bit like the insides of a futuristic starship, Grand Central Madison is open for business.
(Almost) all aboard: Trumpeting “a seamless Long Island Rail Road trip to Manhattan’s East Side,” the Metropolitan Transportation Authority is scheduled to begin service today to the shiny new Grand Central Madison terminal.
The 700,000-square-foot LIRR destination (located below historic Grand Central Terminal, straddling Madison Avenue between 43rd and 48th streets) opens after four years of construction and an $11 billion-plus state investment. The new space boasts state-of-the-art digital signage, robust cellular service, WiFi connectivity, easy bus and subway connectivity and dozens of retail storefronts – but most importantly offers LIRR service directly to Manhattan’s East Side, instead of carrying passengers from Brooklyn, Queens and points east all the way west to Penn Station and subjecting them to Big Apple mass transit.
Following the recent opening of the long-awaited third track, Grand Central Madison marks another major LIRR innovation – though the MTA is a bit hazy on its definition of “seamless.” For starters, the “Grand Central Direct” service only runs as far east as Jamaica Station, with a “full-service launch” still in the works.
POD PEOPLE
Episode 31: Christian Gonzalez, “Macabre” master.
We’re still tingling from last week’s blistering one-on-one with ZE Creative Communications Co-founder and Co-president Robert Zimmerman – not just an insightful retrospective of amazing business innovation, but a savage takedown of con-man Congressman George Santos.
And that’s just one of three-dozen amazing conversations from the innovation economy’s front lines, making Spark: The Innovate Long Island Podcast a true masterclass on invention and executive leadership. Listen to this!
TOP OF THE SITE
Stand and deliver: Same-day-delivery pioneer Trellus is sharing the grand prize from a Greater New York business-plan competition with other Long Island small businesses.
Latest redevelopments: Albany’s new $19 million investment in Long Island downtown revitalization is big news for Huntington Station, Long Beach and Lindenhurst.
Always easy, always free: Keep your team in the networking loop – Innovate Long Island’s weekly Calendar Newsletters are subscriber-only, but subscriptions are … well, you know.
VOICES
The longtime leader of one of Long Island’s top defense-industry firms actually earned degrees in biology and physical therapy – but second-generation GSE Dynamics CEO Anne Shybunko-Moore didn’t fall far from the tree, as chronicled by Long Island Bio Executive Director and Voices historian Tom Mariner.
STUFF WE’RE READING
Give it up: A round of applause, please, for America’s most generous philanthropists. Forbes grades the givers.
Kick the can: Or is that “kick the con?” Either way, Speaker McCarthy wants no part of fraudster doofus Santos. Newsweek takes a pass.
AI Chatbot, Esq.: The “world’s first robot lawyer” is ready to negotiate your bills with that pushy customer service department. The Verge lawyers up.
RECENT FUNDINGS
+ Skillit, a New York City-based construction labor recruiting platform, raised $5.1 million in seed funding led by Building Ventures, MetaProp, HOLT Ventures, Great North Ventures, 1Sharpe Ventures and Takeoff Capital.
+ ADARx Pharmaceuticals, a California-based clinical-stage biotech developing RNA-targeting therapeutics, raised $46 million in Series B-1 funding led by Ascenta Capital OrbiMed Advisors, SR One Capital Management, Lilly Asia Ventures and Sirona Capital.
+ ThriveCart, a Texas-based tech firm providing customized shopping carts, sales funnels and educational course-creation technology, raised $35 million in funding led by LTV SaaS Growth Fund.
+ Posterity Health, a Colorado-based biotech focused on digital male-fertility solutions, raised $7.5 million in funding led by Distributed Ventures, FCA Venture Partners and WVV Capital.
+ Membrion, a Washington State-based ceramic desalination membrane manufacturer, raised $7 million in Series B funding led by PureTerra Ventures, Safar Partners, GiantLeap Capital and Freeflow.
+ Living Carbon, a California-based biotech developing plants engineered to capture and store more carbon, raised $21 million in Series A funding led by Temasek, Lowercarbon Capital, Toyota Ventures and Felicis 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 St. Joe’s). Marlene McDonnell can tell you more.
BELOW THE FOLD (Pasta Perfect Edition)
Plot twist: Behold “vesuvio,” the new spirals by praised pasta innovator Dan Pashman.
Pasta parting: Can we survive without pastina?
Shaping up: New York-based innovators reshape pasta – once again.
Aged cheese (and mac): Your favorite comfort food actually dates back to the 1300s.
Extra sauce: Please continue supporting the amazing institutions that support Innovate Long Island, including St. Joseph’s University, where perfectly prepared academics are topped with healthy servings of morality. Check them out.
