The clinking of cups echoes through the small, but crowded Wild Oat Café on Bank Street.
It’s 6:30 p.m. on a Wednesday evening, and the vegan bakery and coffeehouse is filled well beyond capacity. The cappuccinos are tasty, but the real draw – the reason why close to 100 people have crammed into the café – is the young woman at the front of the room setting up her PowerPoint presentation.
Her name is Louise Heelan and for the next 45 minutes her job is to try to explain particle physics to a room full of amateur science enthusiasts.
The catch: Heelan needs to check her scientific jargon at the door and speak to the audience in plain, understandable English.
“It’s challenging because of the complexity,” she says. “But it’s also kind of fun to think of analogies that ordinary people can relate to. It’s a lot like teaching.”
Heelan, who recently returned after year in Switzerland at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN), is part of an ongoing series of science cafés hosted by Carleton University.
The 29-year-old PhD candidate was part of a Canadian team working on the Large Hadron Collider – the most ambitious and expensive physics experiment ever undertaken.
Located 100 metres underground near Geneva, the LHC is a massive particle smashing machine that teams of physicists are using to try and recreate the conditions just prior to the Big Bang.
Drawing on experiences from her “once in a lifetime opportunity” at CERN, the young researcher tackled everything from dark matter to alternate dimensions in her lecture.
The casual environment helps make science more accessible, she says, and opens it up to people who are genuinely interested, but too intimidated to approach researchers on their own. She also says the cafés can help dispel myths and misconceptions.
The Carleton University series was launched two years ago by dean of science George Iwama. He says the cafés are incredibly popular and are attracting large crowds.
The series has hosted discussions on topics such as tsunamis and climate change, pandemics and coyotes in the city.
It’s important that cafés are held in a public venue and cover issues that are of interest to the larger community, Iwama says.
Amanda Watkins, manager of the Wild Oat, says the series has been good for business and is something she hopes will continue indefinitely.
“We feel that we are a central hub of the community and it is part of our mandate to make this space available for learning and exploration and discussion.”
Science cafés originated in Europe and are spreading through North America at the grassroots level – Ottawa is no exception.
The Canadian Museum of Nature offers a monthly science café in co-operation with the Canada Science and Technology Museum. The Canadian Institute for Health Research also hosts a series of café events in the city.
Christian Riel, public outreach manager for the institute, says the café program began in 2006. This past year, it hosted close to 90 cafés in 25 Canadian cities
“It democratizes science and takes it out of the domain of the experts so that everyone can voice an opinion,” he says.
“We want a population with a strong understanding of science and technology so they can make informed decisions regarding some of the important questions facing society.”