Café Scientifique is a place where, for the price of a cup of coffee or a glass of wine, anyone can come to explore the latest ideas in science and technology.
Meetings take place in cafes, bars, restaurants or even theatres, but always outside a traditional academic context.
The first Cafés Scientifique in the UK were held in Leeds in 1998. From there, cafes gradually spread across the country. Currently, some 70 cafés meet regularly to hear scientists or writers talk about their work and discuss it with diverse audiences.
Café Scientifique is a forum for debating science issues, not a shop window for science. We are committed to promoting public engagement with science and to making science accountable.
Our monthly meetings take place on the first Monday of the month at 7pm. Currently, the meetings take place over Zoom.
Upcoming Events in 2024
Monday 3rd June
Tracey Jolliffe: Bats
Full details to follow
If you wish to be informed about future events, then please email one of the organisers and we will happily add you to our email list.
Meet the Organisers
Who am I and where did I come from? Genetics, Ancestry and Human Evolution
Kevin O’Dell
7pm Monday 1st April 2024
Waterstones Glasgow, Sauchiehall St, Glasgow G2 3EW
It’s over 160 years since Charles Darwin published “On the Origin of Species”, popularising the idea than human evolved from apes. He largely based his ideas on studies of comparative anatomy - and, since then, fossil and other similar remains of ancient human-like creatures have supported the concept that humans evolved from apes. However, in the last twenty years or so there’s been a DNA sequencing revolution that’s suggested our evolutionary history is rather more complex than originally thought. So, what do DNA sequences of modern and ancient humans reveal, and what can it tell us about our recent and past evolutionary history?
Kevin O’Dell is Professor of Behaviour Genetics at the University of Glasgow and co-organiser of Glasgow Café Scientifique. His primary role at the University of Glasgow is co-ordinating the third year of the Genetics degree programme. His problem-solving, storytelling textbook Genetics? No Problem! was published in 2017, and in 2019 he was short-listed for the UK Higher Education BioScience Teacher of the Year award.
Artemis: Fly Me to the Moon
Martin Hendry
7pm on Monday 13th May 2024
Waterstones Glasgow, Sauchiehall St, Glasgow G2 3EW
More than half a century after astronauts last set foot on the Moon, we are set to return there in the next few years as part of the Artemis program that will (to quote NASA’s stated goals) “establish a permanent base on the Moon to facilitate human missions to Mars.” How does the approach to Artemis differ from the “gung ho” adventures of the Apollo program? How will the challenges faced by the Artemis astronauts be different from those encountered by Armstrong and Aldrin? How has human spaceflight progressed and evolved in the 50 years since Apollo, and are we really going to leapfrog from the Moon to Mars anytime soon?...
Martin Hendry is Professor of Gravitational Astrophysics and Cosmology at the University of Glasgow, where he is also currently Vice Principal and Clerk of Senate. While his research is mainly focussed on cosmic events that happened “a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away”, Martin is a lifelong enthusiast for human space exploration and an avid cheerleader for its exciting next chapter. Martin is highly active in schools and public outreach and is currently Vice President (for public engagement) of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Scotland’s national academy.
