Profs and Pints Metro Baltimore

Profs and Pints Metro Baltimore presents: “Celtic Mythology,” an exploration of the beliefs of a people whose influence spread far beyond the British Isles, with Larissa “Kat” Tracy, past president of the American Society of Irish Medieval Studies, former editor of its journal, Eolas, and visiting assistant teaching professor of English at the University of Maryland Baltimore County.

[Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/heavy-seas-celtic .]

The Celts inhabited lands stretching from the British Isles to parts of France and the Holy Roman Empire. Their influence can be seen in the art of the Vikings, in the rich oral and literary traditions of the Irish, Welsh and Bretons, and in the modern renaissance of Celtic culture. But who exactly were they?

Get into the minds of the Celtic people by learning about their myths and beliefs with Larissa “Kat” Tracy, a scholar of Old and Middle Irish and Middle Welsh language and literature and published translator of Old Irish texts whose dynamic and fascinating talks have earned a considerable following among Profs and Pints fans.

Dr. Tracy will delve into early medieval literary records that tell stories of the Tuatha de Danann, a godlike people who invaded Ireland and then were defeated themselves.

She’ll offer a new perspective on faeries, banshees, and leprechauns by describing how the ancient Otherworldy people once believed to inhabit the western realms of Ireland were diminished or demonized into figures of popular folklore. You’ll learn how the ancient God of the Sun become one of the “little people” guarding cauldrons of gold and bestowing luck, how immortal beings of majestic stature shrank to small, winged creatures in the back of gardens, and how supernatural women associated with the “people of the mound” became screaming harbingers of death.

We’ll explore how medieval literary texts inspired later legends and became adapted into folklore. You’ll gain an understanding of how the medieval Catholic Church’s growing power led local people to reimagine their ancient gods and goddesses as Christian figures like Saint Bridget and Saint Patrick.

You’ll gain an appreciation of how the Celts gave rise to living traditions that survive in modern popular culture through the preservation of languages, storytelling and music enjoyed all over the world, and renewed interest in goddesses like Brid and celebrations like Samhain. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. Listed time is for doors. Talk starts 30 minutes later.)

Image: From “Riders of the Sidhe,” a 1911 John Duncan painting of the Tuatha Dé Danann.

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “The Search for Life Beyond Earth,” with Måns Holmberg, postdoctoral researcher at the Space Telescope Science Institute and part of a team of astronomers looking for chemical traces of life on distant exoplanets.

[Doors open at 5:30 and the talk starts at 6:30. Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. ]

Are we alone in the universe?

While many of us have pondered that question, astronomer Måns Holmberg of Baltimore’s Space Telescope Science Institute is seriously focused on answering it. Last year he was part of a Cambridge-led team of astronomers who generated worldwide headlines by announcing that they had discovered potential evidence of a gas produced almost exclusively by life in the James Webb Space Telescope’s data from the atmosphere of a distant world.

Learn about the search for life elsewhere by coming to the debut of Profs and Pints at Baltimore’s SOS Pickleball, which has a bar and deli and will be reserved solely for this event, with no sounds of play.

Dr. Holmberg will talk about how the search for life elsewhere is being conducted and what strides are being made on that front. He’ll describe what it would take to confirm signs of life on such a world, what challenges remain, and how the next wave of observations could ultimately tip the scales.

Dr. Holmberg also will look at the role being played by the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), how it uses infrared light to decode the chemical composition of strange atmospheres, and how it has left us closer than ever to answering the question of whether life exists elsewhere.

He’ll discuss astronomers’ growing interest in a new class of exoplanets known as “Hycean worlds”—ocean-covered planets with hydrogen-rich atmospheres that could be surprisingly hospitable to life. We’ll visit K2-18 b, a distant world around twice the size of Earth that orbits in the habitable zone of a cool red-dwarf star 120 light-years away, and discuss why it has become one of the most interesting exoplanets in the search for life.

Recent observations from JWST have revealed something extraordinary: the atmosphere of planet K2-18 b contains carbon-based molecules like methane and carbon dioxide and possibly even dimethyl sulfide (DMS), a gas that, on Earth, is almost exclusively produced by life. Dr. Holmberg will discuss what makes DMS a compelling (though not yet definitive) biosignature candidate.

You’ll emerge from the talk with a much richer appreciation of the immense possibilities out there among the stars. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)

Image: An illustration showing what the exoplanet K2-18 b might look like. Source: NASA, ESA, CSA, Joseph Olmsted (STScI) / Wikimedia Commons

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “The Archaeology of Ireland,” a look at what major sites reveal about the island from prehistory to the present, with Victoria McAlister, associate professor of Digital Environmental Humanities at Towson University, scholar of medieval buildings, teacher of a course on Irish history, and author of the award-winning book The Irish Tower House.

[Bar doors open at 5 pm. The talk starts at 6:30. Advance tickets: $13.50 plus sales tax and processing fees. Available at https://events.ticketleap.com/tickets/profsandpints/baltimore-archaeology-ireland .]

Although Ireland is just a tiny island in the Atlantic Ocean, its cultural impact has been immense, with evidence of crucial moments and figures in its past to be found throughout its landscape.

Celebrate Saint Patrick’s Day by taking a whirlwind scholarly tour of several Ireland’s major archaeological sites and learning what they tell us about the island’s history.

Your guide on this journey, Dr. Victoria McAlister, is a historian who uses modern technologies such as drones and 3D scanners to virtually reconstruct medieval structures. She has given excellent Profs and Pints talks on medieval castles and ruins and presented the Great Courses lecture series The Great Castles of Europe. Her background leaves her distinctly well-suited to bring Ireland’s past back to life before your eyes.

She’ll start by taking you back to the Stone Age and to Newgrange, a grand tomb that, having been built around 3200 BCE, predates both Stonehenge and the Egyptian pyramids. It stands as a stunning example of the many stone structures left behind by Ireland’s prehistoric inhabitants.

From there we’ll look at other archaeological sites of the Irish Bronze and Iron Age, which form the real backdrop to many of Ireland’s myths and legends. Then we’ll move on to the Fifth Century, when St. Patrick converted the Irish to Christianity. We'll look at some of the sights popularly associated with St. Patrick and consider whether they warrant that fame.

Other stops on our scholarly journey include some of the thousands of castles built by the Anglo Normans, who arrived a few hundred years later, and by the Irish themselves. We'll also look at some lesser-known sites that shed light on this fascinating period.

We'll make a brief pause at some of the "Big Houses" that are still in Ireland's landscapes today before ending our journey in the present day at Leinster House, in the heart of Georgian-era Dublin, and nextdoor at the National Museum of Ireland, home to Ireland’s main archaeological collections. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID. )

Image: Stone age art at Ireland’s Newgrange. (Photo by Johnbod / Wikimedia Commons .)

Profs and Pints Baltimore presents: “Forensic Flaws,” a critical look at how criminal investigations can go wrong, with Dr. Jeff Kukucka, professor of psychology at Towson University and consultant to crime labs, law offices, and government agencies.

[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-forensic-flaws ]

Although forensic science often plays a crucial role in solving crimes, it isn’t nearly as foolproof as television shows make it seem. In fact, mistakes by forensic scientists have contributed to over 1,000 wrongful convictions in the United States, with the result often being that innocent people get sent to prison while the real perpetrators remain free to victimize others.

Why do these mistakes happen? The simple answer is that forensic scientists are humans prone to the same flaws in their thinking as the rest of us.

Gain an in-depth understanding of how this happens with Professor Jeff Kukucka, a psychologist whose work sheds light on the human element of forensic science and seeks to optimize how crime labs function and minimize the risk of costly mistakes, including wrongful convictions.
Using familiar and interactive examples, Dr. Kukucka will explain how our brains automatically simplify or even distort information in ways that are helpful in our everyday lives—enabling us to navigate the world safely and efficiently—but problematic when it comes to criminal investigations.

He’ll discuss how unreliable “junk science” finds its way into courtrooms, how unconscious bias can lead one medical examiner to judge a death as an accident while another judges the very same death as a murder, and why even experts sometimes miss important information that’s right in front of them.

He’ll also describe his experiences testifying in court and working with government agencies to improve forensic science practices, and he’ll talk about why some crime labs have embraced reforms while others still resist them.

Whether you’re going to jury duty or simply listening to the latest true crime podcast, Dr. Kukucka’s talk will surely change the way you think about forensic science. (Doors: $17, or $15 with a student ID.)

Image from Canva.