Our Achilles Heel Has Been Exposed

I was just perusing Facebook, and one of my friends posted this story. Apparently insurgents have figured out the quickest way to get a geologist to ingest poison is to place it in the guise of beer. Truly, a more fiendish plot has never been devised.

However, love of beer (and knowledge of geology) also happened to save the targeted geologist:

The Corona bottle sat on his counter for the next two weeks Yeager [the targeted geologist] says, because Corona is one of his least favorite beers. He finally opened it during a going away party as the other drinks began to run low.

“I pulled it out and when I popped it there was no fizz and the cap was loose,” says Yeager. “Because this one didn’t have fizz you wonder if it went rancid or not, and I just kind of sniffed it and I went ‘Oh, that doesn’t smell like beer.’ ”

Yeager, a geochemist familiar with acids, realized it smelled like sulfuric acid – otherwise known as battery acid. He called a friend over who had the same reaction to the smell. Yeager poured the “beer” into the toilet and it foamed and fizzed, leaving “no question” in his mind it was sulfuric acid.

Geology saving lives once again.