Science cafes go mainstream

For several years, "science cafes" have been all the rage in "public engagement" activities. There are books about them, newsletter articles about them.

But now that they've made the "Sunday Styles" section of the New York Times, I think we can safely say they've hit the mainstream!

These Scientific Minds Think (and Drink) Alike - New York Times

We do have one here in Ithaca: the "Science Cabaret."

There's general information available at http://www.sciencecafes.org/ (for the US) and http://cafescientifique.org/ in the UK.

EPIDEMIOLOGY: Indonesia Taps Village Wisdom to Fight Bird Flu -- Normile 315 (5808): 30 -- Science

EPIDEMIOLOGY: Indonesia Taps Village Wisdom to Fight Bird Flu -- Normile 315 (5808): 30 -- Science

Here's a story about "citizen science" that is truly life-and-death. In order to identify and fight bird flu (OK, "avian influenza" of the H5N1 variety), Indonesia is recruiting people for "participatory epidemiology." In other words, citizen science isn't just something nice for the science education world, but is a real way of addressing the need for more data than professional researchers can collect.