John Willson, assistant professor of biological sciences, and Walt Manger, emeritus professor of geosciences, are the panelists for the next installment of the University of Arkansas Science Café at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, Feb. 20, at the Powerhouse Seafood restaurant.

The faculty members will discuss the "sixth extinction" as described by American journalist Elizabeth Kolbert in her Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History. Willson and Manger represent the J. William Fulbright College of Arts and Sciences.

"Over the last half a billion years, there have been five mass extinctions, when the diversity of life on earth suddenly and dramatically contracted," Kolbert wrote in the 2014 nonfiction book. "Scientists around the world are currently monitoring the sixth extinction, predicted to be the most devastating extinction event since the asteroid impact that wiped out the dinosaurs. This time around, the cataclysm is us."

Science Café is sponsored in part by the U of A chapter of Sigma Xi research society, the American Chemical Society and the Arkansas Biosciences Institute.

The event is open to the public, free of charge, and held in an informal restaurant setting as a time to sit, relax and chat about the topic of the night. Food and drink for purchase will be available.