Tour ASU’s School of Earth, Space
Magic Planet and more in the Gallery of Scientific Exploration on ASU’s campus will amaze LLL’s tour participants March 19.
Patricia Ingalls
The popular March trip that still had openings at press time is a tour of Arizona State University’s (ASU) School of Earth and Space Exploration (SESE) on the Tempe campus.
For full details and to register, go to the LifeLong Learning (LLL) website at lifelonglearningatpc.org.
ASU’s School of Earth and Space Exploration: Tuesday, March 19, 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.; $80 includes bus, tour and lunch at Lou Malnati’s Pizzeria.
Explore what’s on the moon, Mars, and beyond, through revelations that scientists at NASA and three ASU research centers are uncovering today. Through SESE, ASU is directly involved in 25 NASA missions.
The day includes a one-hour, immersive, 3D astronomy presentation, shown in ASU’s Marston Exploration Theater. “The Moon Revealed” looks at the moon’s history, missions, and culture, including the latest research.
A docent-led tour goes through the Center for Meteorite Studies, home to the world’s largest university-based meteorite collection.
In a building nearby, the tour continues in the Mars Space Flight Facility, where scientists are using instruments on spacecraft aimed at Mars to explore the geology and mineralogy of the Red Planet.
In the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter Camera (LROC) facility, visitors take a docent-led walk-through of space exploration history and observe scientists working on lunar data in the Science Operations Center.
Weekday Speakers Cover Canine Cancer, Goodyear’s Future
Veterinarian and cancer researcher Dr. Christine Hardy’s March 25 presentation explains how studying similarities between cancers in dogs and cancers in children is leading to treatment breakthroughs.
Patricia Ingalls
LifeLong Learning’s two March Weekday speakers provide insights into canine-cancer research and into Goodyear’s development plans.
Tickets go on sale at 9 a.m. in the lobby of the Renaissance Theater and are $5 at the door. Lectures begin at 10 a.m. No registration is required. For full details, go to lifelonglearningatpc.org.
Growing Goodyear—the Future Is Bright: Monday, March 11: Wynette Reed, Goodyear’s new city manager, will review the city’s current status and its future plans.
With more than 100,000 residents, Goodyear is the ninth-fastest-growing community in the nation, according to the 2020 Census. It is projected to reach nearly 250,000 by the year 2055. Goodyear is a safe, vibrant community now, but faced with the pressures of continued growth, how can leaders ensure that it remains so? The answer is careful planning.
With help of volunteers and concerned citizens, city staff are finalizing a draft of the 2035 General Plan. If approved, for the next 10 years, city leaders, developers, business owners, and residents will use the plan to make informed policy decisions. It addresses topics such as growth, land use, public services, recreation, and natural-resource management. Many of those issues directly affect PebbleCreek.
A special election will be held in 2024 for voters to accept this vision of Goodyear for the next 10 years.
Answers to Cancer May Be Walking Beside Us: Monday, March 25: Dr. Christine Hardy will discuss similarities between cancers in dogs and cancers in children.
Medical researchers have begun an intensive study of animals that survive cancer, revealing that many animal cancers are remarkably similar at the cellular level to those that develop in humans. The hope is that what works in saving animals might possibly work in humans. That research has led to success stories in the time and cost of human treatment. For example, osteosarcoma, a type of bone cancer, is so similar between dogs and people that research in canines has led to several breakthroughs.
Hardy, a veterinarian, is a national leader in the study of naturally occurring cancers that cross species. At Flint Animal Cancer Center, at Colorado State University in Fort Collins, Hardy is the program lead for the One Cure initiative, committed to the goal of conquering cancer in all species.
Premier Speakers Reveal Technological Advances
Patricia Ingalls
March Premier Speakers for LifeLong Learning update audiences on research advances in medicine and in cybersecurity.
Admission is $15 per person and can be purchased online, or with cash in the lobby of the theater one hour prior to the presentation, subject to availability. For full details and to register, go to lifelonglearningatpc.org.
The Future of Precision Medicine: Friday, March 1, 7 p.m. (New date rescheduled from January) Dr. Joshua LaBaer will explain current research that creates the foundation for precise diagnostics and treatment. That includes how scientists and physicians can use the body’s immune system, and the antibodies it produces, to track abnormal proteins that are biomarkers for chronic diseases, like diabetes, autoimmune disorders and various types of cancer. By studying several groups of women, including healthy women, women with breast cancer, and women with benign breast diseases, LaBaer’s team discovered a panel of 28 autoantibody biomarkers that led to Videssa™, the first CLIA-certified diagnostic test for the detection of breast cancer.
Precision medicine is a way healthcare providers can offer and plan specific care for their patients, based on particular genes, proteins, and other substances in a person’s body. This approach is also sometimes called personalized medicine or personalized care. In the near future, an individual’s healthcare plan may be based on sequencing the DNA in his or her genome, and identifying the biomarkers related to disease and dysfunction. This approach of developing healthcare plans based on the individual’s genomic profile will revolutionize how many chronic and acute diseases are identified and managed.
LaBaer was recruited to ASU’s Biodesign Institute as the first Piper Chair in Personalized Medicine in 2009. The Virginia G. Piper Center for Personalized Diagnostics has a highly multidisciplinary staff of molecular biologists, cell biologists, biochemists, software engineers, database specialists, bio-informaticists, biostatisticians, and automation engineers. This team has prepared copies of nearly all human genes, which it employs to produce and study the function of all human proteins.
Cybersecurity Challenges: Friday, March 15, 7 p.m.
Election tampering, infrastructure attacks, corporate hacking. All those alarming events and many other types of attacks make the news almost daily. But cybersecurity is not just a concern for government officials and CEOs. We all have a role to play.
Air Force Brig. Gen (ret) Linda Medler will provide an overview of today’s challenging cybersecurity environment, including issues relevant to the average American, as well as implications for industry and government. She will discuss recent developments at federal and state levels to address complex cybersecurity challenges and review some of Arizona’s unique approaches.
Medler commanded at the squadron, group and wing levels for the Air Force and was deployed to Afghanistan to lead more than 100 coalition personnel. She culminated her career as Director of Capability and Resource Integration for United States Cyber Command, orchestrating the development of the current strategy and resourcing plan for the Department of Defense for cybersecurity.
Classes Cover Blues Music, Genealogy
Patricia Ingalls
Lifelong Learning offers two March classes that had openings remaining at press time. One teaches the origins and development of blues music. Another shares methods and tips on genealogy research.
For full details and to register, go to lifelonglearningatpc.org.
The Blues—Truth-tellin’ Music: Wednesday, March 6, 1-3 p.m. Mary Thomas, a senior lecturer for the Social Work Department of the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, has researched and studied blues music and traveled extensively in the Mississippi Delta to blues venues and civil-rights sites. She’ll discuss American blues’ development from a rural African style on to gospel, jazz, soul, rock ‘n’ roll, and hip hop, all the while strengthening the blues’ integral role in shaping American culture.
March 28: Next Steps in Genealogy Research: Thursday, March 28, 1-3 p.m.
Students will leave this class with a comprehensive “roadmap” to success in mapping out their family histories, including databases, software, military records, and more. Denise Beeson, M.A., is a professor at Santa Rosa Junior College, in Santa Rosa, Calif. She established the college’s genealogy program and is a member of Santa Rosa Genealogical Society and of PebbleCreek Genealogy Club.
Experiences Can Expand Creativity
Bill Nee
Since moving to PebbleCreek, many homeowners have expanded their creativity by taking part in and developing their latent talents in theater productions, musical groups, art projects, or other clubs. Creativity is essential to all—whether scientists, teachers, parents, entrepreneurs, or those having fun in retirement.
Radio host Julie Burstein’s TED Talk illustrates how people, whom she has interviewed, said they expanded their creativity. She shares conversations about creative approaches that came out of challenges, possibilities, pleasures, and experiences of everyday life and work.
Burstein identifies four areas that creative people embrace:
1. Everyday experiences or reality, while looking for creative ideas and solutions
2. Challenges, conditions, and limitations
3. Mistakes, because multiple failures can lead to success
4. Loss, because it is inevitable and can lead to new experiences.
Burstein recommends people pay attention to the world around them and remain open to experiences that could change them, by pushing against limitations and making beauty out of new situations.
To watch Burstein’s 17-minute TED Talk, go to TED.com, then in the header, click “WATCH”, and under the category, select “TED Talks”, then click “Search for a talk” then input the title, “4 lessons in creativity”, scroll a little lower, and click on the talk you selected.