Profs and Pints Metro Baltimore

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “How Pirates Changed the World,” with Joshua M. White, associate professor of history at the University of Virginia and author of Piracy and Law in the Ottoman Mediterranean.

[Doors open at 5. The talk starts at 6:30. The room is open seating. Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/baltimore-pirates-changed-world ]

Piracy has existed for as long as humans have taken to the sea. Between the sixteenth and eighteenth centuries, however, maritime violence flourished across the globe as never before, with the Mediterranean Sea being its epicenter.

Gain a deep understanding of the piracy of this period—and why it mattered so much—with Professor Joshua White, a scholar of Mediterranean history who teaches courses on Mediterranean pirates and on the ethics of piracy.

He’ll discuss what caused the explosion of piracy in the Mediterranean and talk about how those engaged in it operated. He’ll talk in depth about how small-time pirates infested the islands and coves, lying in wait for prizes, while seasoned, licensed professionals known as corsairs prowled the seas for cargo and captives on behalf of kings, sultans, and their respective religious faiths.

What did they do with their booty? What was life like on board a pirate galley, both for the crew and for the men chained to the oars? We’ll tackle those questions.

You’ll learn the origin stories and exploits of some of the most notorious corsairs—like Hayreddin Barbarossa, John Ward, and Alonso de Contreras—and how corsairing turned Algiers and Malta into massive centers of human trafficking. They became notorious as places where Christian, Muslim, and Jewish captives awaited ransom or lives of servitude.

Professor White will talk about how piracy left its mark on the political geography of the coasts, drove the development of international law, and provided the pretext for imperial expansion by Spain, the Ottoman Empire, Britain, and France. Maritime violence also mobilized the rhetoric of intractable religious conflict, popularized new genres of literary expression, transformed trade networks, and led hundreds of thousands into lives of captivity. So profound was its impact that its legacy is still with us today. ( Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)

Image: Fighting between Algerian pirates and British sailors as depicted by John Fairburn (National Maritime Museum of Britain / Wikimedia Commons).

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “The Twister Talk,” on tornadoes and advances in our understanding of them, with Jeffrey Halverson, professor of geography and environmental systems at the University of Maryland Baltimore County and author of An Introduction to Severe Storms and Hazardous Weather.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/baltimore-twister-talk .]

Springtime brings tornado outbreaks and devastation across the United States. The good news for those of us who anxiously eye the skies: Tornado science is rapidly evolving and improving, as are the means by which we detect funnel clouds and warn of their approach.

Get up to speed with what’s known about tornadoes with the help of Dr. Jeffery Halverson, a severe storm expert with the Washington Post Capital Weather Gang who previously has given excellent Profs and Pints talks on hurricanes and snowstorms.

He’ll describe how, with the help of research conducted by tornado hunters, meteorologists are using ever more sophisticated computer simulations and datasets to try to “crack the code” when it comes to how and where tornadoes form.

We’ll look at how science teams wielding Portable Doppler Radars on small trucks are learning that tornado wind speeds are much stronger than once presumed. We’ll consider how decades of data are changing how we think about “Tornado Alley,” and we’ll review what’s known about the relationship between tornadoes and climate change.

Professor Halverson will conclude by discussing the technological strides being made in terms of tornado warning and detection, and how tornado scientists are teaming up with social scientists to gain a better understanding of what leaves us vulnerable to natural hazards. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Bar doors open at 5 pm. The talk starts at 6:30.)

Image: An F5 tornado over Elie, Manitoba in June 2007 (Photo by Justin Hobson / Wikimedia Commons).

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: "Eugenics Then and Now,” on a dangerous movement in science and its lessons for current research, with Carlo Quintanilla, molecular biologist and health science policy analyst at the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.

[Doors open at 3. The talk starts at 4:30. The room is open seating. Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/baltimore-eugenics ]

Global concerns about the return of eugenic thinking were reignited by Chinese scientist He Jiankui’s 2018 announcement of the first gene-edited babies, Lulu and Nana. He was quickly condemned by the scientific community and jailed for illegal medical practice, but he and others around the world continue experiments with goals echoing eugenic ambitions.

As genetic technologies advance at extraordinary speed, society faces a new set of ethical questions about shaping the traits of future generations. Are we entering a new era of eugenics? If so, how should we respond?

Hear such questions tackled by Carlo Quintanilla, who studied rare genetic mutations in human disease as a graduate research scientist and instructor at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center and now works at the intersection of genomic medicine, science, and society.

Dr. Quintanilla will begin by discussing the origins and history of eugenics, tracing its development in the 19th and 20th centuries as an idea, a scientific movement, and a set of policies. He’ll examine the rise of Social Darwinism in the United Kingdom, forced sterilization programs in the United States, and the atrocities committed by the Third Reich in the name of “racial hygiene.”

From there, he’ll explore how our ability to shape human health and heredity have been transformed by modern reproductive and genetic technologies such as in vitro fertilization, prenatal and embryo screening, and genome editing. You’ll learn how these tools hold enormous promise when it comes to the prevention and cure of rare and debilitating genetic conditions, yet also raise profound questions related to their potential enablement of a new, technologically driven form of eugenics.

Dr. Quintanilla will then delve into the ongoing debate among scientists, bioethicists, and policymakers over what should be classified as eugenics today. He’ll highlight recent controversial uses of genetic and reproductive technologies that are pushing ethical boundaries faster than society can define them, from embryo selection for traits like IQ and height to speculative military interest in genetically enhanced soldiers. These examples raise urgent questions: Where should society draw ethical boundaries? Who gets to decide? And is the term “eugenics” still useful for guiding policy and public debate?

We’ll close by examining the social, political, and regulatory forces that will determine the future, considering whether they will restrain the push toward further genetic control or accelerate it. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)

Image: The frontispiece of the 1883 book Inquiries into Human Faculty and Its Development, by pioneering eugenicist Francis Galton (Wikimedia Commons / Metropolitan Museum of Art).

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “The Physics of Baseball,” with Scott Paulson, professor of physics and interdisciplinary liberal studies at James Madison University.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/baltimore-physics-baseball .]

Profs and Pints is offering baseball fans an even bigger treat than Cracker Jack, an exploration of the physics underlying their beloved sport.

Professor Scott Paulson, who regularly teaches introductory physics classes that make the physics behind real-world phenomena accessible to all, will discuss the forces and phenomena that come into play in baseball during pitching, batting, and fielding. He’ll toss you basic physics concepts that help explain how baseball’s routine plays got to be that way, and he’ll explain what’s going on in some situations where the laws of physics seem to be violated by what’s happening on the field.

Ever wondered why curveballs curve or knuckleballs behave so strangely? You’ll learn how Newton’s laws and the Magnus force explain how pitchers get drastically different results from subtle differences in their releases.

Curious about what exactly the “sweet spot” of the bat is? Ever wondered how big an advantage batters get from the thin air of Mile High Stadium? We’ll explore the physics of the batted ball, examining the phenomena of waves and analyzing the interaction of ball, bat and batter with the help of high-speed video.

During one of the more exciting scenarios in a baseball game—the close play at the plate—fans often see outfielders throw to an infielder rather than directly to home. We’ll look at the pros and cons of this relay play, known as a “cut-off,” in the context of the physics of projectile motion.

Finally, we will also look into high-profile cheating scandals involving corked bats and doctored balls. Dr. Paulson will present models to explain how these alterations to the equipment can benefit the batter and pitcher respectively, and he’ll discuss how much these models are backed up by data.

These few hours will forever enhance your enjoyment of time at the ballpark. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Bar doors open at 5 pm. The talk starts at 6:30.)

Image: Photo by Tage Olsin / Wikimedia Commons