The first Science Café event of the season will be “Here's to the Cosmos” presented in Canton Tuesday, Feb 6 and Potsdam on Wednesday, Feb 7.

How did the universe begin? What is it made of? How is it going to end? How big is it? How old? How did galaxies and clusters develop? Why are we here?

In this talk, Prof. Cristian Armendariz-Picon (Physics, SLU) will describe how modern cosmology answers these questions within the Big-Bang and inflationary models. Along the way he will explain the meaning of an accelerating universe, what is meant by “dark matter” and “dark energy,” and how we appear to be the result of quantum fluctuations in the vacuum, amplified by an early state of cosmic acceleration.

All Café events are free and open to the public.

Events in Canton are held at The Rushton Conference Room at the Best Western on Tuesdays at 7:15 p.m.

In Potsdam, Café talks are held on Wednesdays at Jernabi Coffeehouse, 11 Maple St., at 7:15 p.m.