Reminder: The next #PhillySciTweetup will be 3/27, 5:30 pm at Landmark Americana at 34th & Market. If you dig science you are welcome!

— Philly SciTweetup (@PhillySci) March 20, 2014

If you are not familiar with the concept of a tweetup… a tweetup is simply an opportunity for people that connect on Twitter to come together face-to-face.  The gathering may be around a particular theme or event at a location (see this article from Mashable for how to organize one).  I have attended a couple of tweetups in the past, such as the #PicturingScience #AMNHtweetup in 2011 (see my Storify on the event) and the NASA Social held at AGU 2013 (see my blog post). When I was at ScienceOnline Together a month ago, I happened to connect with Rachel Ewing, a science and health news writer for Drexel University.  She was putting together a list of science people in the Philadelphia area to have a tweetup, and I’m so glad our paths crossed at the conference!  Sure enough, a @PhillySci Tweetup account was soon created that advertised the next gathering on March 27th at the Landmark Americana on Drexel University’s campus.

Mario, the Drexel Dragon, diagonally across the street from Landmark Americana

Excited to see Rachel and meet other science types from Philly, I headed to the city to meet up at the tweetup! Rachel was there (@raewing), along with science writer Rebecca (@BGuenard).  Our conversation started with the ScienceOnline Together conference, then we drifted on to other science topics, such as the latest on the giant turtle humerus bone pieces that were reunited after 163 years.  Steve Kacir (@SETKacir) then joined us and shared stories from his observing of snowy owls to Lance Armstrong and how he was able to work around those blood tests (Steve is a lab manager at UPenn School of Medicine).  I unfortunately left the group after an hour, and it appears that I missed a fascinating discussion on cuttlefish!

@raewing @BGuenard @guertin Really fun & informative as usual. Hope I didn’t go on too much about cuttlefish.

— Stephen E Kacir (@SETKacir) March 28, 2014

@SETKacir @BGuenard @guertin No way! Cuttlefish are fascinating!

— Rachel (@raewing) March 28, 2014

I’m always looking for opportunities to talk science with others, since the opportunities on campus are so limited.  It was a fun time getting together with fans of science (and Twitter!), and I look forward to the next Philly SciTweetup!