Scientist Takeover

Hello from your friendly neighborhood scientists! We hope to see you at our upcoming Two Scientists Walk Into a Bar 10th anniversary party on September 13th! But in case you need some convincing, here’s why we find the Two Scientists program to be a great community event:

Many San Diegans’ favorite post-work (or post-surfing) activity is hitting their favorite breweries with friends. It makes sense - it’s the perfect place to unwind, have casual conversations, and give your brain a break from whatever else is going on in your day. So why do we participate in the Fleet’s Two Scientists Walk Into a Bar program when, instead of turning our brains off, we think even more about science?

The Two Scientists program was initiated as a way to engage STEM professionals with the community and promote science outreach in a casual setting. In the ten years since the program started, scientists have dedicated over 4000 volunteer hours to this program! 

A lot of scientists prefer to be out of the spotlight, focusing on letting their work do the talking, so it can be challenging for us to step outside our comfort zone. Many of us don’t often get to share our work outside of our specific technical fields, so it’s an excellent opportunity to practice science communication skills. The casual format of discussing science over beer is a great way for us to share our work without boring you with graphs or technical details.

Our goal is to tell you the importance of what we do and how it likely affects you too.

But Two Scientists is meant to be a fun conversational event. This space isn’t for us to lecture you, it’s for you to unabashedly ask whatever is on your mind, whether it be weird hypothetical scenarios based on science from your favorite TV shows or just how something works that you take for granted in your day. We became scientists because we are curious about the world around us, so we love thinking about how to answer things we don’t normally work on. We’ve had questions like, “Why does brisket stall at 165F in the smoker before becoming hotter?”, “Can we prove the existence of the metaverse?” and “What is love?”.

If we don’t know the answer, we’re happy to Google it with you! With the Internet, so much content is available that it can be hard to decipher what information we get is actually real. As STEM professionals, our jobs require us to sift through that information to solve problems. We want to encourage people to learn how to identify reliable information and make conclusions - basically, we want everyone to think like a scientist!

Another reason we love the program is that it helps people realize we’re just like them. We have lives outside of science too (unlike what film/TV would have you believe). Being able to step back and connect with people over life, and not just science, will hopefully improve the community’s trust in science and raise awareness of the work we’re doing to help others.

We hope we’ve convinced you that it can be worthwhile to chat with your friendly neighborhood scientists over a drink! To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Two Scientists Walk Into a Bar program, we’re having a party at Barley and Sword Brewery on September 13th from 6-9 p.m. In the spirit of collaboration, the Fleet and Barley & Sword have teamed up to create a special beer for the occasion. Join us for fun activities, a raffle, and plenty of science conversations!