184: the UK's new café culture

Even though British kids may be shunning science at school, it seems Brits of drinking age are lapping it up. That's the message from today's linked article from the UK's Observer newspaper, which reports on the growing popularity of 'science cafés' across the country. These are places where you can go and get a drink - normally, though not necessarily, alcoholic - and listen to a 'stand up scientist'. Not just listen, in fact, as these are interactive lectures where you are encouraged to quiz the speaker and engage in debate. There are more than 30 science cafés across the UK so far, loosely co-ordinated by a body called Café Scientifique (which modelled itself on the French Café Philosophique movement founded by Marc Sautet). The UK initiative has now given rise to a worldwide movement, with around 60 cafés operating in the US and another 120 elsewhere. Most encouragingly, the article suggests, it seems that what draws the crowds is not 'dull theorising', but the potential of science to change the world for the better. Hopeful indeed...