We understand how important it is to stay engaged and inspired in our learning journeys. That’s why, in this series, dedicated instructors choose their favorite subjects and volunteer their time to contribute to the wonderful program at the Norman Adult Wellness & Education Center, located at 602 N Findlay Ave, Norman, OK.
We invite you to join us for a warm cup of coffee and a morning of meaningful and enjoyable interactions. Your participation not only enriches your own experience but also fosters a supportive community where we can all learn and grow together.
Earthquakes and Tsunamis: Their Origin and Impact | $5 - Ken Johnson
August 20, 2025 | Wednesday | 9:30-11:00am
Earthquakes and tsunamis are the most devastating of natural processes. The Pacific Coast of the USA, located at the boundary between the North American and the Pacific Ocean plates, has our most intense quakes. Oklahoma is quite free of natural earthquakes, although from 2009 to 2020, we had many quakes induced mainly by the injection of brine (co-produced with oil and gas) into subsurface faults. Earthquakes beneath oceans, or in coastal areas, can generate tsunamis when the earth is thrust up (or down) and triggers displacement of large volumes of water. Waves can then surge over coastal areas, reaching several miles or more over the land and killing thousands of people. Recent devastating tsunamis were: Sumatra, Indonesia (2004), which killed 230,000 people; and Sendai/Tohoku, Japan (2011), which took 25,000 people.
Misogynistic Laws and the Criminal Justice System | $5 - Susan Sharp (cancelled)
September 17, 2025 | Wednesday | 9:30-11:00am
Oklahoma’s female incarceration has remained high despite the reduction of simple drug possession to a misdemeanor. Two laws are primarily responsible: failure to protect and drug use during pregnancy. This lecture examines the statutes responsible and specific cases in the state.
Navigation by déjà goûté: how scorpions find their way home | $5 - Doug Gaffin
October 15, 2025 | Wednesday | 9:30-11:00am
Scorpions have arguably the most elaborate “tongues” on the planet. The paired ventral combs called pectines sweep the ground as the animal walks. Scorpion pectines support thousands of peg-shaped sensilla, and each peg is supplied with both chemosensory and mechanosensory neurons. Males use their pectines to detect female pheromones during the mating season, but females have pectines too. We have long wondered what additional roles the pectines could play; in particular, why are there so many pegs? We have assimilated all we know about pecten biology to test the hypothesis that scorpions use their pectines to navigate by chemo-textural familiarity. The premise is that scorpions use their pectines to acquire matrices of chemo-tactile information while moving towards their home. Then, during retracing walks, the animal moves in a direction that minimizes the difference between its current pectinal “taste” and the matrices it has in memory. The animal need not recall sequences of tastes; rather, the environment provides the sequencing. The animal must only move toward what “tastes and feels” most familiar at any time. Since déjà vu means “already seen,” we opted for déjà goûté (already tasted). We have developed a computer simulation of a scorpion that successfully navigates complex training paths based on this familiarity idea.
Volcanoes: Living with Beauty and Hazards | $5 - Ken Johnson
November 19, 2025 | Wednesday | 9:30-11:00am
Volcanoes allow molten rock (lava), volcanic ash, and gases to escape to the Earth’s surface. The Earth has about 1,500 “active” volcanoes (activity in the past 10,000 years), and most are along or near tectonic plate boundaries. Well-known volcanoes are Vesuvius (Pompeii), Mt. St. Helens, and the Hawaiian Islands. The USA has about 160 active volcanoes, all in Alaska (about 130) and the western third of the lower 48 states. The Coastal Range in the three Pacific Coast states has 14 active volcanoes. The last Oklahoma volcano erupted about 520 million years ago (phew), although lava and ash produced outside the state entered Oklahoma within the past 5 million years (i.e., Black Mesa in the Panhandle). The biggest threat to the USA and Oklahoma is the Yellowstone Caldera, which erupted violently and spread volcanic ash over Oklahoma about 640 thousand years ago, and it’s kinda, sorta due to erupt again.
