If You Could See Tomorrow...

(it's happening!)
... the Way it Looks, to Us, Today! ...
You'd say, "Incredible!"
"Lord, that's Incredible!"
In-cred-ible.

That was my favorite Ford commercial circa the late 70s. 
Catchy tune.
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Make it a great Friday, and have a healthy weekend.  Here, it looks like the snowpiles and icicles are here to stay, for the next week at least.  Cold now, just such a quick transition into real winter:  boots, gloves, indoor warmth to outdoor cold to shared breathing spaces and all ...

Speaking of, did you know how much vitamin research comes from the University of Wisconsin,  and still?

by David Tenenbaum, July 6, 2011

...
Ever since biochemist Harry Steenbock discovered how to enrich the vitamin D content of foods through irradiation in 1923, the vitamin and its many derivatives have been a mainstay of UW-Madison pharmaceutical research. Facing considerable commercial interest in the vitamin, Steenbock believed the university should benefit, and together with Dean Slichter, he founded the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation (WARF), which opened in 1925 as the nation's first university technology transfer office.

The independent, non-profit WARF remains one of the most successful university technology offices: by now it has patented 1,900 university inventions and contributed $1.07 billion to university research, programs and initiatives. In harmony with its origin, WARF's largest source of revenue has been the many vitamin D inventions by biochemistry professor Hector DeLuca. Long after vitamin D supplements (primarily in milk) eliminated the bone disease rickets, the vitamin is being used to combat osteoporosis, kidney disease and other diseases. ...

In the story of technology transfer from American universities, biochemistry professor Hector DeLuca is a link to a glorious past. After all, his advisor, Harry Steenbock, had worked with E.V. McCollum, discover of vitamin A, before discovering how to produce vitamin D with ultraviolet radiation. Vitamin D has become DeLuca's life work, and the source of several successful spinoffs. ...

Vitamin D, as DeLuca acknowledges, is the current "human health darling," with a wide range of claimed benefits, but despite having devoted his life to the vitamin, DeLuca is a bit skeptical.
"People have correlated the blood level of vitamin D with health benefits, but these are not necessarily related as cause and effect, although the vitamin and related compounds are clearly related to osteoporosis and some types of kidney failure," he says.

"Wisconsin is a strong university when it comes to scientific matters," says DeLuca. "It ranks among the best, and lots of great ideas come out of this place. When they are put into practice, they can really build the state economy."

UW-Madison, DeLuca says, "lives on the good will of the people in the state. We are here because of the state of Wisconsin, and its people. Starting a business is not a bed of roses, but if you are really interested in getting your invention out to the public so it benefits people, a business is the way to go."

Even for a professor with an enviable record of inventions, however, a spinoff business "goes a lot slower than you think it should go," DeLuca says. "You have to be able to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, raise the money and get the leadership you need, but these spinoffs get started because the people of this state believe in this university. It has delivered, and we think it can keep delivering."