Café Inquiry Grand Rapids – IN PERSON – The Year In Science – 2024

Join us in our new venue!! We’re now meeting in the choir room on the second floor of Fountain Street Church! See below for further information.

It’s 2025! Which means it’s no longer 2024. Sigh.  At any rate, that means it’s time for our annual look back at the past year’s scientific advances. This is almost always a lively and informative discussion, usually with far more things to discuss than time to discuss them. We’ll be looking closely at a few of the many advances made in 2024, probably concentrating on two or three areas of science. This year we’ll add a new wrinkle and ask that you pick a few science stories you find compelling or important and that you share them with the group if you so desire. Let’s have fun with this! There were so many discoveries this year!  It’s hard to decide which ones to focus on. This video discusses a few advances – some important, some just interesting. This BBC News article highlights a few other stories, as does this one from Discover magazine.  Join us for what should be a fun session and find out which stories we chose to cover more in-depth!

Café Inquiry starts with a short introduction of the day’s topic, followed by casual discussion.

This event is free and open to the public. Donations appreciated, but not expected.

Attendees are able to future propose topics which would align with Michigan Humanist’s purpose: from atheism, agnosticism, humanism, secularism, and freethinking to broader subjects in science and humanities, such as religion, philosophy, social issues, politics, evolution, morality, ethics, and psychology.

To access the choir room enter the building via the westernmost Fountain Street entrance. (Not the big double doors. The smaller doors to the west. There may be scaffolding in place due to construction, but you can walk under it). Take the elevator or stairs to the second floor, and follow the Michigan Humanist signs. Or ask directions from someone. The choir room is located on the left at the south end of the west hallway.

Parking information – Street parking, if you can find it, is free on Sunday. The nearby GRCC Parking structure is free until 3 PM on Sunday, although this is not advertised. You will need to take a ticket to enter the structure but the exit gate will be open if you leave before 3 PM. Parking is also available free for up to 2 hours in the Public Library lot for patrons. You will need to have your ticket validated in the library. If walking for any distance is a problem for you, please contact us and we’ll see what can be arranged.

Café Inquiry (Grand Rapids) meets each month IN PERSON on the second Sunday and ONLINE on the fourth Sunday.

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Michigan Humanists values the participation of all guests — requests for reasonable accommodation may be made by contacting the event host at least three days prior to the event.

Michigan Humanists expects all guests to engage in respectful discussion. Critiques on views and claims based on merit are allowed, but not attacks on individuals who hold other perspectives.

Any person engaging in disruptive behavior or harassment will be asked to leave, and may be banned from future events pending the severity of the action. Please speak to the event host or contact info@michiganhumanists.org if you feel these expectations are being violated.