Bio Nebraska

Science takes the stage at the Slowdown

BY JOSEFINA LOZA
WORLD-HERALD STAFF WRITER

Published Wednesday, February 4, 2009

If Omaha has an epicenter of cool, it might be the Slowdown.

Indie rockers jam there. College kids chug beers there. Fashion trends are shown off there.

But the scene on Tuesday night was different.

Eighty people gathered inside the downtown bar not for Conor Oberst's coming show but to discuss brain aneurysms. They were there for "Science Café."

Science Café is a way to bring doctors, engineers, scientists and regular Joes together at coffeehouses and pubs to talk shop. A speaker makes a short presentation about a topic in his or her field and then takes questions.

The University of Nebraska Medical Center, Bio Nebraska and the Nebraska Coalition for Lifesaving Cures want to engage more young people with these informal lectures and help improve scientific literacy levels among American students.

UNMC scientist James Turpen, a professor of genetics, cell biology and anatomy, said the Science Café concept is a borrowed idea. Several major cities host them as networking tools. Some have science trivia quizzes; others include a panel of scientists.

"We're not trying to recruit med students. If we do, that's great," Turpen said. "We want to expose more people to science. As we move into the 21st century, science and technology is going to be more important."

Event coordinators were impressed with Tuesday night's turnout. The brain science lecture was the first in the series.

At just after 5:30 p.m., most of the Slowdown tables were filled.

UNMC neurosurgeon Dr. Bill Thorell sat a skull on the bar.

Just two feet away, Tony Cook ordered a round of beers for his friends.

The bar went silent when Thorell began his lecture.

"I mostly treat brain aneurysms," he told the group. "I've worked on a spine when someone was in an accident and handled shot wounds and bleeding strokes."

Thorell passed around some of his surgical tools. He shared bloody surgery stories and traded jokes with his audience as they ate pizza and sipped drinks.

Cook, 35, examined a small metal clip typically used by surgeons to stop a brain aneurysm from bleeding.

He then turned to Thorell, who was patting his own head and pointing to blood vessels.

"The beautiful thing of being bald," Thorell joked.

Thorell encouraged patrons to ask questions and tried to make medical terms digestible.

"A vein is like a cheap garden hose from Lowe's," he said. "And an artery is like a fire hose."

But Cook still found the doctor's talk over his head.

"I guess it would have helped if he would've had more visuals," he joked. "Seriously, though, this is great. It fills the bar on a slow Tuesday night, and we get to learn about something we normally wouldn't have.

"The event has potential."