STEM   

States and counties across the U.S. are actively luring AI data centers with tax breaks and incentives involving electricity, water, and land, hoping to claim new municipal revenues and a share of AI's explosive growth. Data centers are genuinely resource-intensive: even a mid-sized one consumes as much water as a small town, while larger ones require up to 5 million gallons daily - equivalent to a city of 50,000. Powering and cooling server stacks also demands significant resources; a conventional data center draws as much electricity as 10,000 to 25,000 households. This series of OLLI sessions will examine the demands for water, energy, minerals, and land, as well as the potential environmental impacts of AI data centers, with world, state, and local examples.

This course traces Apple’s fifty-year history and its massive impact on personal computing, design, product culture, platforms and ecosystems, and daily life. Each session focuses on a different decade in Apple’s history, from the birth of the PC in the late 1970s to the latest Apple silicon, VR headsets, and future iPhones. We will learn how Apple reshaped not just technology, but how people live, work, and communicate.

This Osher Online course, offered through the Osher National Resource Center, lets you learn with fellow lifelong learners nationwide, guided by a world-class expert. OSHER ONLINE COURSES ARE NON-REFUNDABLE.

This four-week course is for people who suspect that curiosity does not retire. We'll explore artificial intelligence slowly and thoughtfully—not as technicians, but as human beings navigating a profound cultural shift. Practical questions and bigger ones are both welcome. Retirement was supposed to be the quiet part. Then humanity invented machines that can converse, explain, summarize, brainstorm, argue, and occasionally sound wiser than your cousin Larry. Bring basic copy-and-paste skills and a willingness to wonder. WiFi tablet or laptop helpful but not mandatory.

The class on 10/21 will be online.

How does DNA reshape our understanding of ancestry and identity in the Americas? In this course, we will explore genetic genealogy through early contact between European and Indigenous peoples, using the New Mexico DNA Project as a case study. We will examine Y-DNA, mitochondrial DNA, Indigenous haplogroups, and the Spanish castas system. We will consider the ethical and political implications of DNA testing and the limits of what genetic evidence can, and cannot, tell us about race and belonging.

This Osher Online course, offered through the Osher National Resource Center, lets you learn with fellow lifelong learners nationwide, guided by a world-class expert. OSHER ONLINE COURSES ARE NON-REFUNDABLE.