... that's how I like my coffee. If you do too, then you could do much worse than keep an eye on the calendar of science enthusiasts Café Scientifique.

Last Tuesday, Josh and I headed down to Brighton's Latest Music Bar, which was playing host to a talk hosted by the local branch of said science aficionados. Café Scientifique Brighton are a voluntary group united by nothing more than a love of science and a thirst for knowledge. They meet on the third Tuesday of every month (from now on, the third Thursday of every month) and listen to talks they've arranged from guest speakers on, well, anything and everything scientific. Each talk is given on a different scientific topic by a different guest speaker, and while this happened to be my freshman outing amongst their ranks, I am assured by other regular attendees that the talks are always informative, entertaining, well presented and lively. The small cohort of organisers are joined by a large crowd of attendees (much larger than I - as a Scientifique first timer - was expecting I must admit); anyone and everyone is welcome and you don't even have to buy a ticket.

The talk I attended was on astrobiology. The jigsaw fans out there will instantly spot that this is a combination of astronomy and biology i.e. (and I hope the true scientists out there won't reprimand too much for this blunting), space and life. Astrobiology is all about the search for extraterrestrial life in the universe. The speech was given by Simon Goodwin, an expert in the field, and the compère of proceedings was John Gribbin, another equally versed master of the topic at hand. Simon started off with a thoroughly engaging and enlightening speech about the goals of astrobiology, a science which evidently covers astronomy, biology, physics, chemistry, geology, ecology and many, many more. His speech included elements of subjects far further afield too, like history, politics, mathematics, religion and, much to my delight, philosophy. He told us how there are three basic tenets to astrobiology (these being the searches for life, advanced life and intelligent life), where the most likely places to find life are, how difficult it is to find it and why it is we assume what we do about what it might be like. The latter topic was particularly well spoken about, with Simon swiftly putting to rest any and all questions I had in this area.

After Simon's talk, there was a short drinks interval (and it's here I'll confess that it wasn't coffee we were drinking), and then we all sat back down for a bit of Q & A with Simon and John. The questions from the audience were insightful and thought provoking, and were a clear demonstration of how interested people were in the subject. With such a bombardment of inquisition, the session ended up lasting far longer than planned, and had to be actively called to a halt to prevent it going on well into the early hours of the morning.

With many more talks to come, and the upcoming Brighton Science Festival, the good attendees of Café Scientifique Brighton will definitely be seeing my face again. They ask for nothing more than a donation to the organisation costs, an open ear, and an open mind. In return you get a great evening out, a lot of education, and more information than you can fit into a blog post. I thoroughly recommend popping along.

Five stars.