Review: Cafe Scientifque & Electric Cars

I embraced my inner geek and it was so much fun!

Sometimes events greatly exceed your expectations. And, although I confess to being a little nervous about this event, it was fantastic.

Some background: Cafe Scientifique is a monthly event sponsored by the National Science Foundation. The events generally take place at Front Page, so you can eat/drink, listen to quick chat and then ask some questions. This month's topic was electric cars. It's supposed to be low key and not super scientific.

So, last night had several highlights

1) They had several electric cars on display including a solar powered one - kind of cool

2) The two main presenters were hilarious, they were like Penn and Teller, OK, maybe not that funny, but really for two guys giving a science lecture they were a riot. They were interesting and made the subject interesting.

3) There was a ton of people there, which was just kind of fun.

4) You can order drinks and food from Front Page during the presentation.

5) There's some basic free appetizers.

The one drawback was that the sound was absolutely horrific in that space. There was a huge echo that made it difficult to hear everything the speakers said. I'm hoping that's something they can fix next time and not something totally part of the space.

I haven't said this in a while, but really, sometimes you've just got to get out and do things you're not so sure about. You may get a lemon once in a while, but more often than not I think you'll be pleasantly surprised.

As for Cafe Scientifique, if there's another topic that I find remotely interesting, I will definitely go again.

FYI - Sorry about the lousy picture. I didn't think to take a camera and this one is from my phone.

Cafe Scientique at Front Page

I just found out about this regular event and thought it sounded potentially interesting for the science geek in all of us.

Cafe Scientifque flourished first in the U.K. (see http://www.cafescientifique.org/) as a way for the public and scientists to mingle and discuss science issues in an informal setting. At least 35 cafés now exist in the U.S. The National Science Foundation initiated Café Scientifique (Arlington) and its occasional cousin in Washington D.C. in April 2006 to make science more accessible and accountable by featuring speakers whose expertise spans the sciences - and who can talk in plain English. Generally held on first Tuesdays at the Front Page.

Previous topics include A Brief History of the Earth and Moon, Are We All Martians?, Before the Big Bang, and the Science Behind Climate Change.

Cafe's seem to generally begin at 6:00 with light hors d'oeuvres and then a short presentation and dicussion at 6:30. Free and open to the public. No science background required.

Unfortunately, I just missed this month's presentation, but you can sign-up to be on their listserve at the National Science Foundation website, and get information about future events.

I'm interested to see what future topics are and to try to check one out. I'm not a huge science geek, but I like learning new things.