Psychology is such a broad and interesting subject. I wonder how it will integrate with science and technology in the future. Will American society become increasingly individualistic with a fear of domineering social constructs, or will it extend its recent progress in civil liberties to develop a supportive environment for complex and unique personalities and individuals?
“The first of these displeasing propositions of psychoanalysis is this: that mental processes are esseentially unconscious. . . . Yet . . . the acceptance of unconscious mental processes represents a decisive step towards a new orientation in the world and in science.” – Sigmund Freud
“Research has shown that fantasy can be rewarding under conditions of physical deprivation. . . . Empirical studies conducted by Silverman, Lachmann, and Milich (1982) showed that the message “MOMMY AND I ARE ONE” presented subliminally (on the tachistoscope) ameliorated symptoms in schizophrenic patients in some groups of non-psychotic individuals.
-From “Fear of Intimacy” by Firestone and Catlett
This month’s Science Cafe went very well overall. Dr. Miguel Yacaman, Chair of Physics and Astronomy at UTSA introduced the topic of nanotechnology to 25 attendees (mostly from our meetup.com site) for 15 minutes, followed by a 20-minute Q&A session, which was then followed by a break. The Alamo Chapter of Sigma Xi was represented by myself, PA, George Perry and Larry Krock.
The food consisted of 5 party plates (appetizers – chicken wings, hummus, flaming spears, etc.) at the Lion & Rose. The conference room at the Lion & Rose at Blanco and 410 was an excellent location for future cafes, with a TV with laptop hookup and a mic/audio system. A few people had a little difficulty finding the location because of a poorly placed sign along the access road.
A few notes: The turnout included some motivated individuals who are interested in science outreach to the public. Two are starting a nonprofit aimed at funding science blogs and other activities, and one has volunteered to assist in organizing similar meetings for scientific conversation without invited experts. This would keep our audience interested in between bi-mothly (or however frequent) Science Cafes. Also, I found that the breaks provided the greatest opportunity for people to mingle and open up. Perhaps next time we will have a break before a second round of open discussion with the speaker. Also, the seating there was limited to 35, which is fine for intimate meetings (which may be best) but would not be appropriate for a media blitzkrieg of the local press. Overall, I believe these meetings serve many purposes of the Alamo Chapter of Sigma Xi, especially outreach and promotion of our presence in San Antonio.
Nucleons bind to form a nucleus, and some mass is converted to energy, so the mass of the combined nucleus is less than the sum of masses of all nucleons individually. This delta m is known as mass defect. This nuclear binding energy can be found from Einstein’s equation for mass-energy equivalence, E = delta m (c*c), where delta m represents the mass defect.
