Wake-up call: Welcome to Friday, dear readers, and not just any Friday but the fourth Friday of February, wrapping up a busy Winter workweek and the second month of the New Era.
Yes, 2025 is already 1/6th over – time sure flies when government institutions are being dismantled, federal workers are being sacked by the thousands and national laws are constantly challenged by a president empowered to uphold them. It’s almost like half the nation is sleepwalking through the bona fide Constitutional crisis not-so-slowly building around us. (Of course, it is National Public Sleeping Day, so there you go.)
By design: Stop and smell the floral arrangements today (or at least admire their beauty).
The bright side: Ah, politics schmolitics, right? We’ve got innovating to do.
So let’s set aside the cons for a few moments and focus on the pros, including International Rare Disease Day (not very cheery, but a critically important awareness-raiser), National Floral Design Day (fairly soothing) and National Chocolate Souffle Day (aaahhh, that’s better).
All aboard: Also signaling progress was America’s first railroad for the commercial transportation of passengers and freight, chartered on this date in 1827 as the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad.
The hard way: Also on track was Pennsylvania-based inventor Edward Acheson, who patented silicon carbide – which goes by the state name Carborundum and is the second-hardest known industrial substance, behind diamonds – on Feb. 28, 1893. (Acheson actually patented the process for making the stuff, which he discovered quite accidentally.)
An idea with legs: Nylon stockings tend to tear easily, but Nylon 6,6 has held up pretty well.
Sheer bliss: Other time-tested substances associated with this date include Nylon thread (officially Nylon 6,6), which was introduced to the world 90 years ago today by DuPont chemist Wallace Carothers.
Double-cross: It was this date in 1953 when Cambridge University scientists James Watson and Francis Crick discovered DNA’s double-helix structure, an unparalleled breakthrough that would earn them a Nobel Prize (but not British chemist and crystallographer Rosalind Franklin, who did much of the legwork).
Core values: And it was Feb. 28, 1956, when Massachusetts Institute of Technology computer scientist Jay Forrester patented “coincident current magnetic core memory” – the world’s first multi-coordinate digital information storage device, requiring tiny jolts of electricity to magnetize wires connecting pieces of a semi-hard ferrite core.
Instantly elevating computer performance, core memory remained the digital-science go-to for decades – until it was replaced in the 1970s by solid-state semiconductors, known universally as RAM.
From Zero to hero: American actor, singer, nightclub comedian and artist Samuel Joel “Zero” Mostel (1915-1977) – a three-time Tony Award-winner and U.S. Army veteran whose Communist sympathies got him blacklisted in Hollywood, but could not stop him from ultimately defining the comic-relief role – would be 110 years old today.
Oh, Ricky, what a pity: Steamboat’s reign as World Wrestling Federation intercontinental champion was short-lived. (Curse you, Honky Tonk Man!)
Also born on Feb. 28 were American educator Mary Mason Lyon (1797-1849), a pioneer of higher education for women and founder of Mount Holyoke College; American physician Philip Showalter Hench (1896-1965), a trailblazing rheumatologist who shared a Nobel Prize for deciphering the structure and biological functions of the adrenal cortex; American chemist, biochemist, chemical engineer, peace activist, author and educator Linus Carl Pauling (1901-1994), an unparalleled Nobel Prize laureate who covered a wide range of topics across more than 1,200 papers and books; British geomorphologist Marjorie Sweeting (1920-1994), a leading expert on karst phenomenon; and American retired professional wrestler Richard Henry Blood Sr. (born 1953), known best as all-time face Ricky “The Dragon” Steamboat, the victor in what many still consider the greatest match in pro-wrestling history.
That’s unfortunate: And take a bow, Daniel Handler! The American author, musician, screenwriter, television writer and television producer – known way less than his famous pen name, Lemony Snicket, creator of the immensely popular children’s book sagas “A Series of Unfortunate Events” and “All the Wrong Questions” – turns 55 today.
Give the man behind the legend your best at editor@innovateli.com, where we ask the right questions when you share your news tips – and we always feel fortunate when you send calendar events.
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BUT FIRST, THIS
Spawn stars: Visitors celebrate the start of “shellfish restoration season” at the Suffolk County Marine Environmental Learning Center.
Larva, from New York: You’ve heard of “Dawn of the Dead” … now witness “Spawn of the Living,” an oyster-fest like no other.
A gaggle of regional lawmakers, scientists and volunteers gathered last week at the Suffolk County Marine Environmental Learning Center in Southold to mark the beginning of “shellfish restoration season,” an annual Cornell Cooperative Extension of Suffolk County effort to repopulate oysters, bay scallops, hard clams and other shellfish living in Long Island’s coastal waters. The season kicked off with a Feb. 21 “oyster spawn” event, during which a small tank containing several dozen adult oysters – conditioned for spawning over many weeks – created millions of oyster larvae in a matter of hours.
The yearly spawning celebrates CCE Suffolk’s hard work, which is a win for the local ecology (Island oysters filter 900 million gallons of seawater per day) and the regional shellfish industry (a $30 million annual enterprise, according to the Long Island Oyster Growers Association). “Aquaculture research serves as a critical foundation for Long Island’s multimillion-dollar shellfish industry,” noted CCE Suffolk Executive Director Vanessa Lockel. “Spanning four decades, Cornell Cooperative Extension’s team of scientists has been making valuable contributions to this important component of our regional economy.”
Earning an A in AI: A progressive Long Island university is acknowledging the societal shift toward artificial-intelligence sciences with a new course of study.
Garden City-based Adelphi University has introduced a Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence program, with registration now underway for the Fall 2025 semester. The four-year courseload incorporates computer science, statistics and mathematics in an intensive, hands-on marathon that teaches students to design, build and improve AI algorithms, featuring small class sizes – projected to be around 25 students per class – and a three-credit internship program that aims to deepen industry connections and expand résumés.
The new degree program leverages the Department of Mathematics and Computer Science faculty’s considerable AI expertise while expanding Adelphi’s longstanding commitment to student success, according to Associate Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science Anil Venkatesh. “Opportunities are abundant and growing for software engineers who can extend AI’s vast potential and use its algorithms responsibly in new applications,” Venkatesh noted. “The Bachelor of Science in Artificial Intelligence has just the right blend of theory and project-based work, enabling students … to envision and develop the algorithms of tomorrow.”
TOP OF THE SITE
Life lesson: One Long Island teacher has saved the life of another – a virtual stranger – by volunteering to donate her spare kidney.
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ICYMI
High-tech medical imaging, expert hand-eye coordination, critical decision-making skills – plus charades, bingo and three-legged races! Welcome to the Zucker School of Medicine’s second-annual ZonoSlam Ultrasound Olympics.
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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 California: Los Angeles-based Neo Cinema marketplace and content-distribution platform escape.ai empowers up-and-coming creators with its splashy beta debut.
From Indiana: Fort Wayne-based swim spa manufacturer/premium hot tub producer Master Spas reimagines water care with new smart saltwater system.
From Arizona: Cave Creek-based online tire and wheel retailer Dan The Tire Man introduces artificial intelligence-powered tire-size recommendation tool.
ON THE MOVE
Katie Hess
+ Katie Hess has been hired as director of development at Chaminade High School in Mineola. She was director of campaign management at the Ronald McDonald House in Manhattan.
+ Matthew Harinstein has been appointed vice president and associate chief medical officer at Northwell Health. Harinstein, who has also been named associate medical director of Manhasset’s North Shore University Hospital, was senior vice president, chief operating officer and associate chief medical officer for University of Pittsburgh Medical Center International.
+ Garrett Chelius has been appointed special adviser on waterfront habitat restoration for the 1653 Foundation in Huntington. He is deputy director of the Department of Maritime Services for the Town of Huntington.
+ John MacAvoy has been hired as senior vice president of retail banking at Suffolk Credit Union in Medford. He was vice president and branch operations manager at Hanover Bank in Mineola.
+ Gerard Luckman has been appointed to the St. John’s University School of Law’s Center for Bankruptcy Studies Advisory Board. He is a partner at Uniondale-based Forchelli Deegan Terrana and chairman of its Bankruptcy & Corporate Restructuring Practice Group.
+ Alexa Zambelli has been appointed to the Melville-based Friends of Karen’s Advisory Board. She is a financial analyst at Melville-based Henry Schein.
+ Timothy Evans has been hired as a staff engineer in the Wastewater Department at Hayduk Engineering in Ronkonkoma. He is a recent graduate of Farmingdale State College.
+ Johnny “Juice” Rosado has been appointed to the Board of Directors of the Stony Brook-based Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame. He is a longtime professional DJ and Hip-Hop artist.
+ Alex Tomaro has joined Ronkonkoma-based Campolo, Middleton & McCormick as a law clerk. He is a graduate of St. John’s University School of Law in Queens.
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BELOW THE FOLD (We’d Like To Propose A Toast Edition)
Secret ingredient: Is it the water? The corn? The barrels? Opinions vary on why Kentucky bourbon stands out.
Something in the water? How Kentucky became the bourbon capital of the world.
Growth industry: The long and luscious history of America’s wine regions.
Start your engines: The daring bootleggers who created NASCAR.
Like fine wine: Please continue supporting the fantastic firms that support Innovate Long Island, including Nixon Peabody, where knowledge and experience improve year after year. Check them out.
