Science Cafés Tap Nation’s Fascination With Research and Discoveries

On a recent Wednesday night the crowd spilled out the door at San Francisco’s Axis Café, where the draw wasn’t a hot band or a talented bartender, but a lecture. On physics.

Toby Garfield, an oceanographer at San Francisco State University, was explaining the science of big ocean waves, like the giant Mavericks surf break about 25 miles away. As he showed slides of the ocean floor and explained that the coast is a system of energy dissipation, the crowd peppered him with questions. Why do waves come in sets? What are rogue waves? How is the United States harnessing the power of waves to make renewable energy?

Scenes like this are being repeated across the country at science cafes, where contemporary science — a topic that Americans supposedly find dull — is drawing substantial crowds month after month, even on topics as nerdy as gene sequencing and dark matter.

To find a café, visit http://www.sciencecafes.org

By David Ferris

Full Story: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2007/12/science_cafe