Bigger, Better, and Still Not Enough Room

No, the woman with the microphone is not crooning lounge songs to customers. That is Prof. Deborah Fass, and she is explaining the latest structural biology research in her lab.

And this is Weizmann Institute president Prof. Daniel Zajfman in an official Science on Tap 2012 T shirt giving pub goers a talk on the economic and social importance of basic science.

No matter how big we make the yearly Science on Tap event, it is never big enough. Those who don't make their reservations in time are left out on the sidewalk straining to hear. People have been writing and calling begging us to expand it further next year, hold it twice a year, stagger the lectures so they can attend two.

Possibly best of all, the event and surrounding media coverage are causing reverberations. Other universities are coming up with original ways to bring academic subjects to the public, and journalists are taking note of the public interest in science. There have even been suggestions that we take the show on the road -- out of the country.

For now, however, you guys over there in London or wherever will have to do it yourselves.