in order to address real-world problems. That year she learned about how kids' health was horribly impacted by lead in the water in Flint, Michigan. 

 

She researched the problem and designed a device, called Tethys, which can attach to a cell phone and detect lead in water immediately. The device is almost done with the testing phase and should be ready to use publicly in 2022.

She also built the Kindly app to help prevent cyberbullying and the Epione device which acts as an early warning system to help doctors detect opioid addiction in patients.

She's on a mission to inspire more kids to be leaders now and start using their science skills to solve big problems. “I don’t look like your typical scientist. It’s not easy when you don’t see anyone else like you. So I really want to put out that message: If I can do it, you can do it, and anyone can do it.”

-She is the first female vice president, the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, and the first African American and first Asian American vice president.

-Her mother was born in India and was a biologist who advanced cancer studies, and her father was born in Brittish Jamaica and is a professor emeritus of economics at Stanford University.
-In 2003, she was elected to serve as the district attorney of San Francisco.

-In 2005, Newsweek put her on the list of "20 of America's Most Powerful Women."

-In 2008, The New York Times published her name on their list of women with the potential to become a U.S. president.
-She became California's Attorney General in 2010 and was re-elected in 2014.
-In 2013, Time magazine named her as one of the "100 Most Influential People in the World."
-She served as a junior United States senator from California from 2017- 2021.
-She is the second African American woman and the first South Asian American to serve as a U.S. Senator.
-Harris originally ran for president in 2018 but eventually withdrew. 
-Joe Biden chose Harris as his running mate in 2020.  
-In 2020, she was jointly named Time's Person of the Year along with Joe Biden.

Psychologist David Strayer shares in his TED talk "Restore Your Brain With Nature," that most people with North American lifestyles spend about 10 hours a day on some form of a screen. That is contrasted with only about about 30 minutes spent outdoors. 

 

When people are working in front of screens all day, the pre-frontal cortex of the brain, which governs problem-solving, decision-making, and planning, is in heavy use and likely to be overworked and needs rejuvenation.

 

He explains that a nature walk gives, "...your prefrontal cortex a chance to rejuvenate by doing things like replacing the glucose and glycogen energy reserves so that when you come back after having taken a walk or rested for a little bit, you just have more mental energy to allocate when you’re trying to attack a problem."

The popular Descanso Gardens seedling sale is coming up! Admission to Tomatomania! is free, but timed tickets are required.

Members can reserve tickets to Tomatomania! on March 15.

 

Non-members need to get two tickets, one to visit Descanso gardens and another for seeing Tomatomania on the same day as your main ticket. Non-member Tomatomania! tickets can only be booked starting March 29. 

The actual seedling sale event takes place from April 9-11, 2021, and the hours are 9am-7pm.

 

To get tickets, visit  descansogardens.org.

 

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