Comments on: Science Scenesters

By: Allyson

Allyson — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 22:56:21 +0000

You should totally set up Science Sunday at the Cat and Fiddle.

See how I said “you” and not “me”?

I’m on an organizing strike.

By: Roger Harris

Roger Harris — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 13:35:37 +0000

Great discussion! Just one point…

“they invite scientists, usually professors at nearby universities, to lecture on topics ”

Contrary to the quote from the NYT, Science Cafes are NOT a lecture. As Sean articulates, science cafes are a “gathering of people in a bar [or other low key environment] to … have an engaging conversation.” That is, Science Cafes work precisely because they are not lectures. They are conversations, chats, dialogues, but not lectures.

The Science Cafe takes science to the people, rather than relying on the public to drive to campus lecture halls, seminar rooms etc. That is the strength and appeal of the Science Cafe–it is science on the public’s turf.

Members of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, have a soup to nuts kit to organize a Cafe from scratch. The emphasis is on team work so that three or four people work together to organize the event. Once the work is done for the initial cafe, subsequent events are much easier so most cafes evolve into a series. To find out more, check out our website: http://www.sigmaxi.org/programs/public/cafe.shtml

Bear in mind too that Sigma Xi is a great network for finding experts on your science topic de jour!

Roger Harris
Director, Membership and Chapters
Sigma Xi

By: Monte Davis

Monte Davis — Tue, 20 Nov 2007 00:30:59 +0000

Thanks, Colin — let others know via
http://www.sciencecafes.org/put_on_map.html

By: Colin Purrington

Colin Purrington — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 22:28:41 +0000

Monte (and other Philadelphians), please click on my name to go to “Pennsylvania Citizens for Science” — top post (as I write) is about a Penn Science Cafe.

By: tp

tp — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 16:08:52 +0000

Tobin nailed my biggest complaint with the article: it didn’t have a link for anyone to find something in their own town.

Try:
http://www.sciencecafes.org/find.html

I don’t think that’s anywhere near complete (it may be just those affiliated with NOVA), but its a start.

By: Monte Davis

Monte Davis — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 15:51:34 +0000

I’d be happy to share organizing scutwork for Philadelphia, especially with anyone having local faculty connections — hey Penn, Penn State, Temple, Drexel, Swarthmore, you out there?

By: Nick Ernst

Nick Ernst — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 06:24:50 +0000

I’ve seen this in action, not in the real world but at Burning Man. You would be surprised at how many people showed up to math camp! It was, naturally, connected to our bar (with spicy Bloody Marys and Salmiakkikossu, hey), but everyone was very engaged with our lectures. The casualty of the setting made them not feel guilty when they lost track (and, I hope, enhanced their love and affection for the beauty of geometry). The afterwards conversation was the best part, because people flirt with new ideas and get intellectually downright promiscuous.
To any would-be bar lecturers: Make every few sentences a stand-alone concept, so that anyone who looses the thread can pick it up again.

By: Yvette

Yvette — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 04:51:56 +0000

Science Cafe started up in Cleveland just a few months ago, so my friends and I try and make it out there to support it and learn a few things we might not know about. That and they do it during happy hour!

My one complaint (besides the fact that there’s only one a month) is how there aren’t enough astro/phys topics for my tastes as the organizer’s a social scientist. But that’s probably my personal preference getting in there.

By: Sean

Sean — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:45:16 +0000

Tobin, the closest I know of is Categorically Not, but it's not quite the same. (More interdisciplinary than scientific, and held in an art studio, not a bar or cafe.)

By: Tobin

Tobin — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 02:13:40 +0000

Any such thing here in LA?

By: onymous

onymous — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 23:54:19 +0000

“A guy told me that when one of the speakers started talking about life on Mars, he started crying.”

Well, sure. I mean, the film is a saddening bore, the sailors are fighting in the dance hall, the lawman’s beating up the wrong guy, Mickey Mouse has grown up a cow…. There’s a lot to cry about.

By: Domenic

Domenic — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 22:32:09 +0000

Wow, that’s so cool! Seriously, some of my faith in humanity is restored.

By: Luis

Luis — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 22:06:18 +0000

“after a while that part of your brain starts to deteriorate [...] You want to use it again. Plus, there’s alcohol.”

Keep your neurons in good shape, so that when you kill them with alcohol, they leave a beautiful corpse.

By: lt.milo

lt.milo — Sun, 18 Nov 2007 21:52:08 +0000

wow that was a strange closing quote.