Café Scientifique Glasgow

Café Scientifique Glasgow Café Scientifique Glasgow is a forum for debating science issues in a relaxed café setting.

13/05/2026

Many thanks to everyone that attended the Café Scientifique event on Monday. We hope you enjoyed 's engaging, funny and thought-provoking talk about how society views single women.
Thank you Caroline for the excellent talk and great discussions!

✨ Looking for a thought-provoking evening in Glasgow? Join us at Café Scientifique! ✨We’re excited to welcome author Car...
01/05/2026

✨ Looking for a thought-provoking evening in Glasgow? Join us at Café Scientifique! ✨
We’re excited to welcome author Caroline Young for a fascinating talk and discussion:
The Science of a Stereotype: The Dangerous Single Woman
📅 Monday, 11 May 2026
⏰ 7:00–8:30pm
📍 Waterstones Bookshop (Upstairs), Sauchiehall Street
🎟 FREE entry (booking required)
🍷 Drinks available at the bar (soft drinks, beer & wine)
👉 Book your place here:
https://www.waterstones.com/events/caf-scientifique-with-caroline-young/glasgow-sauchiehall-street

💬 What’s the talk about?
Why have single women so often been labelled a “problem”? From witch trials to Hollywood stereotypes, this engaging talk explores how and why the image of the “dangerous” or “unstable” single woman has evolved—and why it still resonates today.
Drawing on history, pop culture, and current debates, Caroline will unpack the forces shaping these narratives and what they mean for conversations around gender, feminism, and society today.

🌟 About the speaker
Caroline Young is an Edinburgh-based author specialising in film, fashion, and popular culture. Her recent book Single & Psycho explores how pop culture created the stereotype of the unstable single woman.

Come along, grab a drink, and be part of the conversation—we’d love to see you there! 💡

🌟 Café Scientifique – March Event 🌟We’re excited to welcome you to our next Café Scientifique session, where Professor D...
23/02/2026

🌟 Café Scientifique – March Event 🌟
We’re excited to welcome you to our next Café Scientifique session, where Professor Dr Zvonimir Bašić will explore how social norms shape our choices, motivations, and everyday behaviour.
📅 Monday 2 March 2026
⏰ 7:00–8:30pm
📍 Waterstones Bookshop (Upstairs), Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
💷 Free event – please book via the link below
🍷 Hot & cold soft drinks, beer and wine available to purchase at the bar
👉 Booking link:
https://www.waterstones.com/events/cafe-scientifique-dr-zvonimir-basic-how-norms-shape-our-behaviour/glasgow-sauchiehall-street

🌱 What the talk is about
Why do people sometimes act generously, honestly, or cooperatively when there’s no reward for doing so?
Why do we support causes where our individual contribution seems small?
And why do we hold ourselves to certain standards even when no one is watching?
A major part of the answer lies in social norms — the unwritten rules that guide much of human behaviour. Dr Bašić will walk us through:
• Injunctive norms: what we believe is socially appropriate
• Descriptive norms: what others typically do
• Personal norms: the values we uphold privately
• How norms influence behaviour across contexts
• When norm‑based interventions can help — and when they might backfire
This talk offers insights from behavioural and experimental economics, showing how deeply these invisible rules affect our decisions.

👤 About the speaker
Dr Zvonimir Bašić is a Lecturer in Economics at the University of Glasgow’s Adam Smith Business School and Director of the Glasgow Experimental Lab (GaEL). His research focuses on prosocial, cooperative, and moral behaviour, using behavioural experiments to understand what shapes human decision‑making.

We look forward to welcoming you on 2 March!

🎉 Happy New Year from Café Scientifique! 🎉We’re kicking off 2026 with a fascinating topic:✨ Hypnosis – Scam or Superpowe...
13/01/2026

🎉 Happy New Year from Café Scientifique! 🎉
We’re kicking off 2026 with a fascinating topic:
✨ Hypnosis – Scam or Superpower? ✨

Join Dr Paulina Trevena, hypnotherapist & researcher, as she explores:
✔ What hypnosis really is (and isn’t)
✔ Stage hypnosis vs hypnotherapy
✔ Can everyone be hypnotised?
✔ Practical uses you might not expect
📅 Monday, 2 February 2026
🕖 7:00–8:30 PM
📍 Waterstones Bookshop (Upstairs), Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
💰 FREE – but booking is essential!
👉 https://www.waterstones.com/events/cafe-scientifique-hypnosis-scam-or-superpower/glasgow-sauchiehall-street

Despite a whole body of research demonstrating its effectiveness for a wide range of ailments, many of us still regard hypnosis as just ‘woo woo’ – or, worse still, something to be afraid of.
Maybe you’ve seen people being hypnotised in a stage show, making fools of themselves by obeying the hypnotist’s every command. Maybe you’ve seen movies where villains hypnotise victims to reveal their secrets. Or maybe a friend has quit smoking thanks to hypnosis. And maybe it’s left you wondering, “Is any of this for real? Or is it all some kind of scam?!” If so, all will be revealed in our Café Scientifique talk!
And if you’re brave, you can experience a short hypnotic session yourself!

🍷 Hot & cold drinks, beer & wine available at the bar.
Paulina Trevena No Woo Woo - Aphantasia, ADHD & hypnotherapy with Dr Paulina Trevena Waterstones Sauchiehall St

05/12/2025

Thank you to everyone who joined us at Monday’s Café Scientifique! We hope you enjoyed learning from Iain Cameron about Scotland’s snow patch monitoring as much as we did. A huge thank-you to Iain for an inspiring and fascinating talk that left us all eager to discover more about these remarkable winter remnants!

Join us for a festive evening of science and storytellingas we delve into the fascinating world of Scotland’s enduring s...
23/11/2025

Join us for a festive evening of science and storytelling
as we delve into the fascinating world of Scotland’s enduring snow patches with renowned researcher and author Iain Cameron.

• Date: Monday, 1 Dec 2025
• Time: 7-8:30pm
• Place: Waterstones Bookshop (Upstairs), Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
• Cost: **FREE** but please book via link below :
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cafe-scientifique-iain-cameron-the-vanishing-ice-glasgow-sauchiehall-st-tickets-1964079299055

Since he was a child, Iain has been fascinated with relics of winter persisting on Scotland’s hills from one year to another. He has authored almost 30 peer-reviewed papers on the subject and two books, most notably ‘The Vanishing Ice’. Iain has appeared many times on national TV and radio, as well as in all the UK’s national newspapers.

In his talk he will cover the history of snow patch research, as well as look at the locations where the longest patches survive, and the conditions necessary for them to persist so long.

Whether you're a snow enthusiast, a lover of the outdoors, or simply curious, this is a perfect way to kick off the festive season.

We look forward to seeing you all on the 1st December!

Greetings from Café Scientifique! We’re excited to announce our November event, where Dominic Hinde will talk about Scot...
27/10/2025

Greetings from Café Scientifique! We’re excited to announce our November event, where Dominic Hinde will talk about Scotland’s relationship with climate change and going ‘carbon neutral’.

Date: Monday, 3 November 2025
Time: 7-8:30pm
Place: Waterstones Bookshop (Upstairs), Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
Cost: **FREE** but please book using the link below **Hot & cold soft drinks, beer & wine available to buy at bar** Booking link :

https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/climate-change-finding-a-sustainable-future-in-scotlands-past-tickets-1813783528359?aff=oddtdtcreator

Scotland is a world leader in renewable energy but, behind the headlines and good news stories, what is actually going on? And where do ordinary people fit in to the debate? In this talk, journalist and sociologist Dominic Hinde blends his experience as an international news journalist and climate specialist with his academic work on the public communication of climate change and energy. Based on his new book Drifting North, written as a road trip through the Scottish landscape after the Glasgow COP summit and the Covid pandemic, he brings real people into the story of environmental and social change, from the beginnings of the carbon economy in Scotland into the future. Through visits to Shetland and Orkney, offshore oil platforms, nuclear reactors and wind farms, reforestation projects and urban sustainability initiatives, Dominic weaves together the personal, the national and an international to ask key questions, such as, “What are the driving forces behind the successes and failures of carbon neutrality?”, “Why is understand ‘energy’ essential to tackling climate change?”, and, “Why is it still so hard to mobilise mass action on climate?”

Dominic Hinde is a writer, journalist and academic at the University of Glasgow. He spent much of his twenties working as a Northern Europe correspondent and latterly an environment specialist for Scottish, UK and US news media, as well as writing for outlets in Germany and Sweden and working for Nordic radio and television. Since 2021, he’s been Lecturer in Sociology of Media at Glasgow, where he researches climate narratives, and continues to write for magazines such as the New Humanist and New Statesman, as well as being a contributor to Good Morning Scotland and producing independent radio documentary.

Do come along for what promises to be a fantastic night spent with Science!

We look forward to seeing you all on the 3rd November!

After an extended summer break—slightly longer than expected due to the August storm—we were thrilled to return on Monda...
05/09/2025

After an extended summer break—slightly longer than expected due to the August storm—we were thrilled to return on Monday with a fascinating and insightful session on neurodiversity and neurodevelopmental conditions, and their wider social impact.

A big thank you to Clare Brennan from CAMHS for delivering such an engaging and informative talk, and for leading a thought-provoking Q&A that sparked meaningful discussion!

Greetings from Café Scientifique! We’re back after the summer break andexcited to announce our September event, where Cl...
24/08/2025

Greetings from Café Scientifique! We’re back after the summer break and
excited to announce our September event, where Clare Brennan will talk about
the science of neurodiversity.

Date: Monday, 1 Sept 2025
Time: 7-8:30pm
Place: Waterstones Bookshop (Upstairs), Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow
Cost: **FREE** but please book using the link below **Hot & cold soft drinks,
beer & wine available to buy at bar**
Booking link :
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/cafe-sci-with-clare-brennan-glasgow-sauchiehall-st-tickets-1609889495819?aff=oddtdtcreator

From Autism & ADH, to conditions such as Dyslexia, Dyspraxia and Tourette’s
Syndrome, we hear a lot about these days about ‘Neurodiversity’ (ND) – but
what does itreallymean, both in general terms and for those diagnosed as
neurodivergent? What are its causes? And what options are available for
effective ‘treatment’? Pharmacist Clare Brennan will take us through the
science of neurodiversity and its social impacts - from the apparent steep
rise in numbers of children and adults with ND to the fascinating array of
medication & treatment options available.

Clare Brennan is the Lead Pharmacist at Renfrewshire’s Child & Adult Mental
Health Service (CAMHS), working with children and young people up to the age
of 18 to help them understand and manage their mental health conditions and
learning differences. Clare provides specialist pharmaceutical care at CAMHS,
including prescribing support, medication counselling and medication reviews,
and has a special interest in neurodiversity.

Do come along for what promises to be a fantastic night spent with Science!

We look forward to seeing you all on the 1st September!

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