Science Discussions Invaded Black Acre’s Production Facility on Tuesday

Science Discussions Invaded Black Acre’s Production Facility on Tuesday

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By Mathew Muncy

Tuesday night at Black Acre’s production facility got a little more interesting than just brewing beer. Pint of Science and Central Indiana Science Outreach (CINSO) held their second day of science talks at the facility, this time featuring discussions on Human Society.

With the event taking place at a brewery, and it was free, it was only right for me to purchase a beer. I don’t frequent Black Acre, so the beers on tap were new to me. TV Wolf – an American Pale Ale – sounded good, and I definitely made a solid decision.

Christopher Schmidt, Associate Professor at the University of Indianapolis, was the first presenter of the evening. His science discussion revolved around the town of Herculaneum and what the bones of its deceased citizens tell us about the Mt. Vesuvius eruption in A.D. 79.


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Attendees learned that many of the townspeople hid in the boat docks waiting to be saved. Unfortunately, the pyroclastic surge killed those in hiding, and archaeologists found the bodies huddled together in the docks. Schmidt explained how several theories on how the citizens of Herculaneum died (heads exploding, vaporization, etc.) were incorrect based on his study of the bones. His theory is the surge was scorching, which can be seen by studying the colorization of bones from the town’s citizens, but their deaths were not as dramatic.

In between the two science talks, we played four rounds of trivia. As I went to the event by myself, I grouped up with a couple of people sitting next to me. The first round of trivia featured 10 random questions. We were pretty confident on about six of our answers, yet only got three correct. For the second round, we were handed a piece of paper with movie stills on it. The objective was to write down what movie each still was from. We did ok but did not find out how many we got right.

In round three we were given three questions to answer, similar to round one, but they required multiple answers. We did not fair well in this round. The final round was called Over/Under. The trivia host would ask one of the Black Acre employees a question and the employee would give an answer. Everyone in attendance would give a thumbs up or a thumbs down depending on whether we thought the real answer was over or under the answer given by the Black Acre employee. If you guessed wrong, you were out. I made it down to about the final 10 before answering wrong.


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After a brief break to grab more beer, the second discussion started.

Deputy Prosecuting Attorney of the State of Indiana Hal Johnston talked about law and science. As a prosecutor, Johnston faces the challenge of convincing a jury that the defendant is guilty. However, he regularly runs into jurors whose only knowledge of law and science come from watching shows like CSI or Criminal Minds. 

Johnston set out to explain how science actually helps law enforcement, unlike what we see on television. He discussed how DNA was used, how the results of breathalyzers in court were not as cut and dry as they seem, and how being an informed member of society helps if you end up on a jury.

In two-and-a-half hours, we learned a lot about science, history, and law, all while drinking beer. It was an excellent way to bring a classroom discussion into an informal environment.



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