Effort Brings Science Discussions to Public Settings in Pubs and Breweries

Scientists recently traded lab equipment for a menu of science topics put on tap and served cold.

This wasn’t your typical setting for a science presentation; it was at a brewery.

Houston’s Pint of Science, held for three nights at True Anomaly Brewing in Houston’s EaDo neighborhood, was one of five hosted at locations across the U.S. University of Houston’s Claudia Ratti, M.D. Anderson Professor of Physics and associate chair, and Johannes Jahan, postdoctoral research fellow in theoretical nuclear physics, served as the U.S.-wide coordinators, along with Fanny Étienne, postdoctoral neuroscience researcher working at UCLA's Brain Research Institute. Anthony Timmins, professor of physics, was the Houston event coordinator.

Pint of Science takes topics out of the lab or classroom and places them in more social settings, such as pubs and breweries. The goal is to provide the public with greater access to discussions of scientific developments. Other U.S. Pint of Science events were held in Boston, Los Angeles, New Haven, Conn., and Philadelphia.

Ratti, a member of the faculty with UH’s College of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, first heard about Pint of Science in Italy.

“It sounded like a great program that provided a not-so-traditional setting to engage in scientific discussions,” said Ratti.

She hoped to join similar events taking place in the United States, but despite few editions in the past decade, it had not been held in the country since 2019.

“Sadly, I could not find anything like it here in the states recently,” she said. “I wanted to contribute to an effort to bring Pint of Science back here to provide a renewed interest in science. This year’s event was the first of what I hope will be an annual Houston event, growing each year.”

Over the three nights, nearly 200 people attended Houston’s layman-friendly public talks.

Pint of Science 2024 Talks

Quantum World: from Fundamentals to Applications

• Recreating the Big Bang in the Laboratory
  Rene Bellwied, UH M.D. Anderson Chair Professor of physics
• Quantum Computers: What Are They Good For?
  Rubem Mondaini, UH assistant professor of physics

It's In Our DNA

• Converting Genetic Dark Matter into Cancer Snipers and Trackers for Predicting & Preventing Opioid Addiction
  Preethi Gunaratne, Moores Professor, Director of UH Sequencing Core and Sakuni Rankothgedera, Ph.D. student, lead scientist at UH Sequencing Core
• CRISPR: A Revolution in Medicine
  Chrysa Latrick, research assistant professor, UH Department of Biology & Biochemistry

Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger

• How Catalysis Facilitates Innovation in Drug Discovery
  Aidan Looby, Ph.D. student, UH Department of Chemistry
• Moving Beyond Lithium-ion Batteries: the Rise of the Sodium Rechargeable Battery
  Pieremanuele Canepa, R. A. Welch Assistant Professor. UH Department of Electrical Engineering