{"id":247103,"date":"2014-03-28T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-28T07:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/two-scientists-walk-into-a-bar\/"},"modified":"2014-03-28T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2014-03-28T07:00:00","slug":"two-scientists-walk-into-a-bar","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/two-scientists-walk-into-a-bar\/","title":{"rendered":"Two scientists walk into a bar\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Science Center outreach brings scientists to your happy hour<\/strong><\/p>\n

By Kevin Smead | SDUN Reporter<\/p>\n

When \u201cCosmos: A Personal Voyage\u201d first aired in 1980, it set out to accomplish a number of goals, the most important being to bring accessible yet very sound science to the masses in an entertaining, evocative format. In achieving this, the show was wildly successful, thanks in part to its host, the beloved Carl Sagan.<\/p>\n

\"(l<\/a>
(l to r) Scripps researchers and UC San Diego post-doc students Michael Tift and Peter Jordan enjoy local Automatic brews at Blind Lady Ale House amid scientific discourse. (Foto por Hutton Marshall)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is a testament to the work of Sagan and the \u201cCosmos\u201d team that not only is a sequel to the original series currently airing, but scientific outreach is more popular and accessible than it ever has been. However, the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center is thinking differently about community outreach and taking a new, innovative approach \u2014 as scientists are wont to do.<\/p>\n

\u201cTwo Scientists Walk Into a Bar\u201d may be the start of a sure-to-be-awful joke, but its literal nature is quite apt. Much like the title itself, the setup is simple: take two scientists and send them to a bar, give them a sign that says \u201cWe Are Scientists, Ask us Anything,\u201d and let the public loose. There\u2019s no better forum to strike up an interesting science-related conversation over some tasty beers at a local watering hole.<\/p>\n

So, what\u2019s the punchline, then?<\/p>\n

The inaugural event hosted 50 scientists at 25 local bars, restaurants and breweries, spanning the entire county. All the way from downtown\u2019s The Field and The Knotty Barrel to Carlsbad\u2019s Pizza Port, scientists spent their Thursday evening answering questions and engaging in some good, old-fashioned hanging out.<\/p>\n

Since the event ran from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. in most of Uptown\u2019s bars, I planned my route so I could hit three different bars and meet as many awesome scientists as I could.<\/p>\n

Starting at Blind Lady Ale House in Normal Heights, I encountered Michael Tift and Peter Jordan from the Scripps Institute of Oceanography. Dressed in lab coats, the pair enjoyed a pitcher of one of Automatic\u2019s finest ales, brewed on location at Blind Lady, while waiting for patrons to approach them and ask questions.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople have been kind of timid,\u201d Tift said. \u201cI don\u2019t think we\u2019re intimidating.\u201d<\/p>\n

At this, Jordan laughed. \u201cYeah, they asked us to come hang out, drink beer and talk about science. That just sounds like a normal night for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jordan continued saying, \u201cI hope people don\u2019t think they have to try and stump us. Outside of our research areas, there\u2019s lots of stuff we don\u2019t know. People have a lot of physics questions we can\u2019t answer.\u201d<\/p>\n

As I was leaving for the next stop, they were moving their sign identifying them as scientists to a more prominent easel, in hopes of drumming up some more conversation.<\/p>\n

Down the street at Polite Provisions, there was no shortage of people interested in speaking with the two scientists, San Diego State biology graduate student Brandon Kim and University of San Diego oceanographer Dr. Drew Talley. Both were excited to talk about their various scientific endeavors, though some had other interests.<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, we\u2019ve had a range of questions already,\u201d Talley said. \u201cSome were very curious about what we do and others just wanted to know if there were tables available in the back.\u201d The two gathered quite a crowd in the small, but packed, bar.<\/p>\n

Over at Hamilton\u2019s in South Park, San Diego State biology graduate students Priya Shukla and Kate McDaniel had several people show up specifically to talk with them.<\/p>\n

\u201cThese two guys actually showed up to talk with us scientists. That\u2019s cool, I didn\u2019t expect that,\u201d McDaniel said, smiling. As someone who works in the graduate publishing world, I asked the pair the worst question of the night: How\u2019s your thesis going?<\/p>\n

\u201cOh no!\u201d Shukla exclaimed, laughing. \u201cThat\u2019s something you never ask any graduate student.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s coming along. There\u2019s still time,\u201d a nervously nodding McDaniel answered.<\/p>\n

There was one question the scientists universally answered “yes” to, however: Would they do this again?<\/p>\n

Good thing, too, since this event was only a kick-off for many more outreach-focused events to come, including more installments of \u201cTwo Scientists Walk into a Bar.\u201d Upcoming events also include the more focused, but still beer-related, \u201cSuds and Science,\u201d in which a scientist gives a brief presentation on a popular topic and then leads a discussion about it afterwards. All of this taking place at a local bar, of course. Also, on May 12, White Labs CEO and President Chris White will be giving a presentation on yeast, microbiology and other science-based fundamentals of brewing at Callahan\u2019s Pub and Brewery in Mira Mesa.<\/p>\n

With all of this emphasis on beer-or-otherwise focused outreach, the best way to keep up with the R. H. Fleet Science Center is follow them on Facebook or Twitter.<\/p>\n

So, would Carl Sagan have envisioned a time in which it was cool for scientists to hang out in bars and have the general public ask them questions over a pint or two? Maybe not. One of the main tenants of outreach is to go to people where they are, though, and if that place happens to be drinking at a local pub, then that\u2019s just cream cheese icing on the chocolate Guinness cake.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Science Center outreach brings scientists to your happy hour By Kevin Smead | SDUN Reporter When \u201cCosmos: A Personal Voyage\u201d first aired in 1980, it set out to accomplish a number of goals, the most important being to bring accessible yet very sound science to the masses in an entertaining, evocative format. In achieving […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":726,"featured_media":247104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11555","_seopress_titles_title":"Two scientists walk into a bar\u2026","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"jnews_override_counter":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[11547,11551,11550,11555],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-features","category-news","category-top-stories","category-uptown-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/726"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/247104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}