The Weizmann Institute is commonly viewed as Israel's most prestigious research institute in the sciences. Recently it hosted its second evening of "pub lectures" in local bars and restaurants.

Weizmann Institute's President Prof. Daniel Zajfman calls it "the power of the context" that makes these lectures so popular. "You can give lectures in lecture halls, in universities, in schools. And it would always be the same type of people who would come. It so happens that if you change the environment, if you change the context, the lecture will be very different. And the type of people who will be willing to come, will also be very different."

Zajfman, an astrophysicist, discussed the possibility of life in other parts of the universe at an Irish bar in Rehovot. Down the block, in the Black Bar and Burger, another researcher talked about how mutations and evolution can one day protect us from cancer.