How do you make science lectures fun? Tempe's Science on Tap adds beer to the formula

If you’re looking to learn a little bit about science but would rather hang out in a bar than a lab, an event in Tempe might be for you.

Science on Tap is a monthly gathering that features two short science talks. The March 12 topic is Sting Operation: From Jellyfish to Reefs.

Marion Le Gall is an entomologist, which means she studies insects, not words. She’s also the organizer of Science on Tap. She joined The Show to talk about it.

If you go

When: Thursday, March 12, 2026, 8-9:15 p.m.
Where: SaltFire Brewing Co., 530 W. Broadway Road, Tempe 85282
Details: https://www.facebook.com/events/974392158247406

Full conversation

MARK BRODIE: Marion, if someone comes up to you and asks what Science on Tap is and why would I be interested in it, what’s your sales pitch?

MARION LE GALL: Myself, it would be that, A, the price is right, it’s free. It’s once a month. And also like I used to be a teacher, so I’m aware of like annoying, long, dragging lectures. So Science on Tap is the opposite of that.

So I usually have two speakers. They can come from different areas of research. So you can go anywhere from physics to math, to biology. From different organizations, so they come from ASU, U of A, like park services, private sector coming.

And they will give two talks that are only 20 minutes each. And then after each talk, you have an opportunity for a Q&A for 10 minutes. And we have a break between the talks so you can refresh your drinks if you need, and so everything is wrapped under an hour.

The idea is to make it very accessible and not boring. And also like very important things, I ask all the presenters to make the presentation accessible to our broad audience. So you do not have to have a college degree to come to Science on Tap and enjoy it.

BRODIE: OK, so they’re shorter presentations, but how do you make sure they’re still interesting? Because as I’m sure you know, something can be 20 minutes and still not be that interesting. It’d still be kind of boring. 

LE GALL: So selfishly, I pick topics that I think would interest me. And then I ask my friends around. Or sometimes people volunteer to me for the topics. And I think people, like scientists, often we have to publish a peer-reviewed paper, and they’re often behind a paywall.

And I think people, scientists, usually love talking about their work. We spent so many years getting our degree, and we actually like talking about research. And so it’s fun, because it’s a different format. So it’s not a conference, you’re not talking to your peers. And so usually I think they do a really great job because they are generally are happy to do it.

BRODIE:  Well, so for someone like you, you are very much in the world of insects. How much of a challenge is it for you to, for example, describe your work or to have a talk like this that isn’t at a scientific conference? You’re not talking to other people who are in your field or who work in your lab. You’re talking to people who might know nothing about entomology.

Marion Le Gall

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Handout

LE GALL: Right. Well, that’s one of the issues. I feel like we don’t necessarily train for that. So I’m very much trained to talk to my peers. But because it’s something I enjoy and I’m passionate about, I think I’ve read a lot about techniques for teaching. I also taught at the university, so same thing, like learning about tools. And just my personal interests.

So one thing I do is I look at people that I enjoy that are very good science communicators, and I copy some of the tricks they use.

BRODIE: How do you come up with the combinations of topics that you’re gonna be talking about? 

LE GALL: As I said, it’s pretty random. So like some of them, selfishly I’m like, “Oh, I know nothing about that.” So for example, I study biology. I don’t know much about math or physics. So I’m like, “Oh yeah, I’d like to hear about black holes,” for example. Like I don’t know anything about it.

Or sometimes a recommendation, or it also happens that people come and volunteer to me. So for example, this week we’re going to hear about jellyfish, and that was someone that attended Science on Tap. And she’s about to be a grad student, and she told me she studied upside down jellyfish that photosynthesized. How could I say no? 

BRODIE: Who tends to show up to these events? 

LE GALL: It depends. So I feel like there are some regulars that have enjoyed since from the beginning, and I will see them monthly. And after that, I advertised on a Facebook neighborhood group. So like people from the “hood.” And after that it’s also like sometimes people who present, they’ll bring the friends or like other people from their community. So I’d say change months to month.

BRODIE: So why do you think an event like this is so important to be doing?

LE GALL: Well, because as I say, a lot of the science we publish is not accessible because when we publish articles,they’re not aimed at a general audience. They’re very jargony. And even if they were not jargony, they are often behind a paywall. The open-access papers are more common, but not always the case.

And I feel like there’s a lot of miscommunication with science. I think that became very apparent during the pandemic. And so I think like bringing science to the general audience and making an effort to not use that particular jargon and training yourself to have this elevator pitch that is addressed to a broader community is really important. And also it’s fun, I think.

BRODIE: Do you see this as kind of a way to maybe combat misinformation or even get people to sort of trust in science and believe in science again? They see scientists are real people standing up in a bar, maybe with a beer in their hand, talking about something and in a way that is understandable. 

LE GALL: Yeah, and actually that was the reason I started Science on Tap. So a friend and I were talking about how we were in grad school. We had experienced something like that. I had been to like a science cafe when I was in grad school.

And at the time, I never really thought about anything more than attending. But then during the pandemic, I grew increasingly frustrated with really the miscommunication about science. And I thought, “Well, what am I doing as a scientist?” And I felt like not really a lot for the broader community.

And so my friend felt kind of the same. So we decided, well, let’s do it. There was not really something like that in Tempe at the time. And the other thing is like, yeah, I really think there is a misrepresentation. So often if you see in the media, a common image of a scientist is going to be, generally it’s going to a white male in a lab coat. And scientists are a lot more varied.

And so yeah, I think it’s really good for us to go talk to the public and be a bit more human and meet at the bar where someone can come and ask questions.

BRODIE: Any topics that you haven’t been able to feature yet that you’d really like to?

LE GALL: Yeah, actually, I have been trying to get someone to come and talk to us about AI. I think that’d be a great one. I would love to hear more about solar energy. And being in Arizona, I think like a semiconductor. So I have tried to reach out and yeah, I would love to feature it because I think they’re very Arizona-centered.

BRODIE: Yeah, maybe down the road at some point?

LE GALL: Yeah, and I have tried to invite some people, but I don’t usually struggle to find people. So I usually jump to another topic, and we’ll come back to it eventually.