Cafe Society SOCIAL EVENTS MAKE SCIENCE FUN
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aise your hand if you like to sit still in a lecture hall for an hour while a lecturer drones on, using specialized vocabulary you don’t understand. Sound like your memory of science class? Then it’s time to discover the new way to experience science: science cafes. Science cafes are part of a global movement to create informal, engaging conversations about science between an expert and a gathering of interested people who may or may not have expertise in science, all arranged in a casual, fun venue like a pub or coffeehouse. Think of it this way: Instead of going to school, you sit down for a beer with your favorite teacher and just talk. Like TED Talks, the science-cafe concept has really taken off. A lot of young people going into science these days appreciate the importance of scientific literacy in creating a climate of support for their work. They feel a responsibility to learn good science communication skills and to apply those skills in their local communities. They’re organizing science-cafe events like Cafe Scientifique in Silicon Valley, Nerd Nite in the East Bay, Science Buzz Cafe in Sebastopol and Science on Tap in Santa Cruz.
AR By Dr. Amy Rogers Science in the Neighborhood
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Here in the Sacramento region, we’ve got a whopping three generalinterest science cafes, covering most Wednesday nights of the year. The most convenient for Inside Publications readers is Sac Science Distilled, launched one year ago thanks to the efforts of local biology students Bobby Castagna and Nicole Soltis. In partnership with Powerhouse Science Center, Capital Science Communicators and Davisbased Science Says, Sac Science Distilled brings together scientists and the public at Streets Pub & Grub
(1804 J St.) every third Wednesday at 6 p.m. “We started (the cafe) to give early career scientists—grad students, post-docs—a chance to present their research to a general audience and to practice talking about their work to the public,” says Soltis. Recent topics included microbes in space, ringtails in the Sutter Buttes and parasites. According to Soltis, Sac Science Distilled promises “short, idea-centered talks from local experts in the sciences” followed by “a lively
discussion that brings science into context for everyday life.” I had to check this out. The night I attended was a special event: the first Sac Science Idol, a speaker competition among a dozen young scientists who each had three minutes to wow the judges with their style and content. An enthusiastic audience filled the bar, swilling beers and cheering them on. The night’s winner, A.J. Slepian, dressed up as an electron-carrier molecule (well, sort of) and convinced us to watch for news about NAD+ and aging. Attendees played Science Idol bingo with squares like “bad microphone feedback” and “cancer” added to the fun. Soltis says they usually have some kind of hands-on feature like that to engage the crowd. For example, after a recent talk about microbes, the audience swabbed different locations in the bar and streaked petri dishes to see what would grow. At an animal behavior talk, each person got a card assigning them an animal identity. Then they had to act out a behavior that would help them find the right mate. A geek icebreaker and dating game all in one! If you’re willing to venture a little farther than Midtown, more science cafes await. Davis Science Cafe was started in 2012 by UC Davis chemist Dr. Jared Shaw. Shaw is still at the helm of this second-Wednesday gathering, currently at G Street WunderBar in Davis. Lodi joined the fun in 2014 when Nick Gray, the education program coordinator at Lodi’s World of Wonders (WOW) Science Museum, launched Science Night Live. SNL is held the first Wednesday of every month at 6 p.m. Though it’s held at the museum, not