Profs and Pints Metro Baltimore

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

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “What Digital Detectives Find,” on the afterlife of your digital data and the methods of those who investigate it, with Jim Jones, associate professor at George Mason University and cyber security and digital forensics expert.

[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-digital-detectives ]

What happens when you delete digital data such as a picture, video, or email message?

The truth is that “deleted” doesn't mean “gone,” and digital forensic investigators can extract and make sense of the residual fragments left over from data often assumed to be gone forever.

Learn about the field of digital forensics—and the lessons it offers those who worry about sensitive data being exposed—with Jim Jones, who has been a cyber security and digital forensics practitioner, researcher, and educator for more than 30 years.

You’ll learn how all investigations today, criminal and otherwise, to some degree involve digital forensics, an interdisciplinary field that draws from computer engineering, computer science, information technology, law, and ethics. Digital forensics doesn’t just respond to specific incidents, but also seeks out threats within organizations, analyzes malware, and buttresses cyber security. Much of the work of Dr. Jones, his colleagues, and students involves examining digital systems of all types to understand how data persists and decays and how it can be found and recovered.

Dr. Jones will discuss how what happens to the digital data that you deleted depends on the type of device you are using, along with a host of other factors. You'll learn how digital data is stored on different devices and what does and doesn’t happen when you delete that data. You'll see examples of data extracted from different devices, demonstrations of what can be inferred from these remnants, and how investigators can tell if such remnants are genuine or not.

Finally, you'll learn about strategies to mitigate the risk of exposing sensitive data. Dr. Jones will sort those that work from those that don’t. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)

Image: A forensic disk imager (Photo by the wub / Wikimedia Commons).

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Maya Medicine,” on the history and mysteries surrounding the healing practices of Guatemala’s Indigenous people, with David Carey Jr., professor of history at Loyola University Maryland and author of Health in the Highlands: Indigenous and Scientific Medicine in Guatemala and Ecuador.

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

Mayas, the original inhabitants of Central America, have long been experts in healing. But the relationship between their healers and outside scientists is a complicated one.

Explore the history of these practices and what is being learned about them with Professor David Carey Jr., who has done scholarly work in Guatemala for more than 30 years and learned the Mayan language Kaqchikel to conduct archival and oral history research there.

He’ll discuss accounts in ancient pre-Hispanic texts of medicinal plants, practices, and healers, and he’ll describe how healers, midwives, bonesetters, and others involved in tending to human health passed knowledge across generations.

We’ll look at how the first European arrivals to the Americas and their descendants have both benefitted from as well as suppressed Mayan healing practices. The European colonists of the 17th century exported back home knowledge of Indigenous treatments and medicines such as quinine for malaria. Nevertheless, doctors in both the colonial and postcolonial eras seemed threatened enough by Indigenous healers’ knowledge and practices to marginalize them and urge governments to outlaw them.

The relationship between scientific medicine and Indigenous healing has remained complicated in Guatemala over the past two centuries. Indigenous medicine practitioners often operate alongside doctors and nurses, and Indigenous healers have been credited for advancements such as a cancer cure derived from dried snake heads.

The talk will conclude with a look at a Guatemalan health alliance that provides biomedical and Indigenous healthcare in Indigenous languages. We’ll consider how it might provide a model for improving healthcare equity. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Bar doors open at 5 pm. The talk starts at 6:30.)

Image: Mayan healing herbs on display in the Mayan Medicine Museum in San Cristobal de las Casas, Mexico. (Photo by Adam Jones / Creative Commons.)