Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports

Our events are held monthly on the last Thursday of every month.  They are traditionally an hour long, with around 20 minutes of presentation followed by 40 minutes of discussion.  After the hour, we let our presenters off the hook and allow the discussion to continue among the participants.

We use our Facebook Page for organizing and sharing information about events.  Please navigate to our Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports Facebook Events page for more information about our events.

Special Event: March 12th, 2020 – Climate-Smart Duluth
Guido Wallraven has been serving as technical director for the German city of Saerbeck’s climate-smart municipality project since 2009. He is in charge of implementing about 150 individual initiatives that promote and implement local climate protection. Wallraven has been working on municipal climate protection issues for over 15 years. Together with local stakeholders, he develops plans for adapting to climate change.

Guido is visiting Duluth as a part of our City’s sustainability and climate change initiative’s. As a part of the visit he’ll be spending time with with Duluth’s new (and first ever) sustainability officer, Mindy Granley, and we at Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports and Amity Coffee are excited to help host a discussion on this important topic while he is in town. Join in on this discussion with Mr. Wallraven on community climate action for Duluth and beyond!

Next Event: March 26th, 2020 – Science Board Games
Board games have always been a fun way to learn concepts. Lately, board games have been booming with science themes abound! We thought it would be fun to get together and play some sciencey board games. However, it wouldn’t be a Cafe Sci event without some learnin’, so we’ve invited local scientists to be our guides to the science the games use. Basically, there are there to call shenanigans (and join in the fun). Come out to Wussow’s Concert Cafe at 6pm to enjoy a night of fun and games…science games.

An archive of event flyers is below:

If you are interested in sharing your science through Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports, send a note to info@cafescitwinports.org and let us know! We are working on developing a variety of ways in which the scientists in our area can connect with their community.

Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports wouldn’t exist without the dedicated scientists, researchers, and discussion leaders who have given their time to lead our events.

February, 2020: 3rd Annual Science Social and Trivia

Dec, 2019: Karl Wagner, Solar Energy: Past and Present

Nov, 2019: Randy Hanson, Regenerative Agriculture & Restorative Food Systems

Oct, 2019: Cafe ScientifEEK – Science + Music Halloween MASH

Sept, 2019: Karin Kraemer, Color and Clay

August, 2019: Amanda Grusz, Discovering Biodiversity with BIG data

July, 2019: Doug Jensen, Aquatic Invasive Species

June, 2019: Gene Kremer, Funga!

May, 2019: Claire Lande, Bees!

April, 2019: Vicki Kurker, The World Climate Simulation

March, 2019: Julie Etterson, Adaptation in the Anthropocene, the resurrection is near!

February, 2019: 2nd Annual Science Social and Trivia

January, 2019: J. Neil Henderson, Where medicine meets culture

November, 2018: Samuel Stewart, How a lonely mathematician models really dense crowds

October, 2018: John Dahl, Freaky Biology and Zombies, Naturally

September (Oct 2nd), 2018: Adam Swanson, Sharing Science Through Art

August, 2018: Melissa Maurer-Jones and Tayler Hebner, The Fate of Plastics in the Environment + The Role of Mentorship in Science

July, 2018: Gerald Shepard, Taxonomy: The ‘caddis’ in the coal mine, invasive ID, and the importance of knowing our aquatic neighbors 

June, 2018: LSRI Scientists – Heidi Saillard and Kelsey Prihoda, Lake Superior’s Beaches

May, 2018: Richard Buckalew and Eric Erdmann, The Gerry-Mander, Voting Methods, and Mathematics

April, 2018: George Hudak, Minnesota’s Potential Mineral Future and Opportunities

March, 2018: Katie Williams, The Social Side of Science

February, 2018: First Annual – Science Social and Team Trivia

January, 2018: Carol Christenson, Forecasting Winds and Waves of Lake Superior

December, 2017: Eric Norland, From Ancient Religion to Modern Cosmology

November, 2017: Emily Stone, Exploring Northwoods Nature through Science and Your Senses

October, 2017: Rachel Portinga, How to Lower an Ecological Footprint

September, 2017: Adam M Frankiewicz, The Art of Scientific Illustration (October 5th, combined discussion and art opening)

August, 2017: Matthew Etterson and Hawk Ridge Bird Observatory, The Phenomenon of Bird Migration  

July, 2017: John Pastor, The North Woods: Past, Present, and Future

June, 2017: Ryan Hueffmeier, Citizen Science

May, 2017: Beau Webber, The Future of Genomic Engineering

April, 2017: Dale Hoff, Environmental Science and Imperative of Scientific Communication

March, 2017: Heather Wright-Wendel, The Role of Green Infrastructure in Building Resilient Communities

February, 2017 : “Astro” Bob King, The Future of Humans in Space

Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports is a volunteer-run community organization based in Duluth, MN and serving the Duluth, MN and Superior, WI communities.  Cafe Sci Twin Ports was formed by a small group of individuals who wanted to create greater access to science and the scientists within our community.

• Science is amazing and terrifying and inspiring –  Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports seeks to provide a venue where anyone with an interest in science can come to learn and discuss a variety of topics with experts guiding the conversation
• Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports seeks to strengthen the connection between scientists and the communities they serve through open dialogue and sharing of expertise and ideas

If you want to learn more about who we are and we do, feel free to email us at info@cafescitwinports.org or come to one of the events and chat with one of our organization team members.  Speaking of team members, below are pictures and names of the volunteers who have given their time and effort to help make Cafe Scientifique Twin Ports happen.

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As you can imagine, we are not the first group of science lovers who wanted to do something like this.  Besides just sounding fancy and being slightly difficult to say Cafe Scientifique represents the efforts of many similar-minded folks around the world!  You can find Cafe Scientifique’s from here to Aukland, all locally run, all doing what they can to share their love of science with the communities they live in.