A café to discuss science

Published: 2008 - April/May, Current Affairs

Who said that to attend a lesson on the evolution of the species or on the theories of biogenetic one has to walk through the portals of a great university? Listening to a “lectio magistralis” is possible, even by making an appointment at a pub while sipping a coffee or a beer.   It is what’s been happening in the United States for the last few years. They are called ‘Science Café’ and, for all practical purposes, they are bonafide bars, where ordinary everyday people and students have the chance of listening to a university professor explain, in  simple words,  very complex scientific concepts and theories. Under the sign of democracy at all levels, United States are bringing young and not-so-young  people closer to applied sciences and the results are very much evident. Thanks to this project, which has already reached about sixty points of meeting, exactly the ‘Science Café’, American universities and private foundations have increased registration to their scientific faculties.   An example which Italy, weak on the front of love for the sciences, could borrow.   Somebody has already done it, some of these places are active in Milano, Trieste and Florence, but much is still to be accomplished and the road ahead is still long.   The east and west coasts of the US teem of these places and it is a flourishing of ‘Science Café’. A must see is the one in Boston, a university city par excellence, where at the ‘Thirsty scholar’ (the name is all a program), informal lessons on the most advanced scientific theories are held regularly. Same has been happening in San Francisco, where at places around the bay area, between an aperitif and a dish of fried fish, the latest news in the field of physics, math and biochemistry are dissected.  But the American race in spreading science sitting at bars is not casual. The United States, forever holders of the supremacy in excellent training in  the scientific field, have engaged in a no-holds-barred  battle to retain the brain power, with respect  to emerging Countries like China and India. “Chindia” in fact, is overtaking the US in terms of graduates churned out every year from the faculties of physics, mathematics and engineering, a preoccupation which is giving sleepless nights to the overseas’ establishment. The ‘Science café’ can represent an effective fertilizer for the most talented young brains in the scientific field and a powerful antidote for the bid by Indian and Chinese engineers.   These public places for the lovers of exact sciences are  needed to keep alive the interest and insure an audience of graduates who in the future will represent the hard-core of the Stars and Stripes research. But the  ‘Science café’, just to set things right,  are not an American invention. They were born in Great Britain as an initiative by the more “grinds” students, eager to continue learning even sitting in front of a mug of beer. Pubs around the universities of Oxford and Cambridge were the first test-grounds in which to try the ‘Science Café’, where in a relaxed atmosphere, students and professors could continue their lessons. The idea was liked by the Americans who, from the green British lawns, transferred the idea on the campuses overseas. In today’s America, meeting in a café to discuss microbiology or the Philipp’s’ curve is the norm for students and plain citizens, who prefer science over a boring evening in front of a TV. To get an idea about this phenomenon, just surf the Net by typing extremely exhaustive enlightening  sites. Among the most clicked sites stand out sciencecafes.org and cafescientifique.org. By visiting them one can immediately realize that the same professors are the ones preferring the warm and reassuring environment of a pub over the cold and distant atmosphere of a university classroom, you can read about it on the various blogs and newsgroups. And the ideas continue to flourish, minds expand while finally tasting culture within everyone’s range. Miracles of science or science of the miracles? None of either, just simple pleasure of learning without restrictions. What in the ancient wisdom was called ‘otium’ – leisurely!