Aberdeen's first Café Scientifique got off to a great start last night in Waterstone's Union Bridge bookshop as Professor Anne Glover debated Science and Society issues with an audience of over 160 people.
The Café is an initative of the University of Aberdeen's Public Engagement with Science Unit and in the coming months will provide opportunities for scientists to share their research with a general audience in an informal setting.
Dr Ken Skeldon, organiser of last night's event, said: "We're absolutely delighted that so many people are interested in Café Sci.
"We exceeded the capacity of Waterstone's café by a factor of four, but I'm happy to say that the whole team involving people from the University's College of Life Sciences and Medicine and the College of Physical Sciences, working alongside Waterstone's staff, handled the situation and made the event a great success."
The next session is at Waterstone's at 7pm on Wednesday February 11 and marks the start of the University's celebrations of Darwin200 Year.
Author Kelley Swain will discuss her book 'Darwin's Microscope' inspired by Darwin's Theory of Natural Selection.
Café sessions happen the second Wednesday of every month thereafter until October.
Full details of the Café Sci programme can be found at www.abdn.ac.uk/science/cafescience/ while the Darwin200 programme of events is being posted at www.abdn.ac.uk/science/darwin/