2015 - 10/2015 Meeting

Page Created: 09/30/15. Last Updated: 02/27/16.

JAMES TEPPER

Amazon Profile: http://www.amazon.com/gp/pdp/profile/A2Z3IXZ17E88J4/ref=cm_cr_rdp_pdp/191-2173803-6269742

Distinguished Professor, Rutgers University

Aidekman Research Center

Center for Molecular and Behavioral Neuroscience

Education:

PhD: Biological Psychology. University of Colorado, Boulder.

MA: Biological Psychology. University of Colorado, Boulder.

BA: Biological Psychology. University of Colorado, Boulder.

Academic Positions

Rutgers University, New Jersey.

Oxford Universtity, United Kingdom.

Princeton Unversity, New Jersey.

University of California San Diego. La Jolla, California.

Selected Honors

Rutgers Board of Trustees Award for Research

Fellow of American Association for the Advancement of Science

Recipient of Warner-Lambert Research Award

Henry Rutgers Research Fellowship

Meeting Summary:

Meeting Date: October 10, 2015.

Meeting Site: Members' Home. Waldwick, New Jersey.

Official Attendance: 22.

Meeting Program: Talk by Neuroscientist / Guitarist / SF Fan / Reviewer.

Notes:

Additional Notes appear after the Newsletter Account

Newsletter Account

The following account is reprinted with permission from THE STARSHIP EXPRESS Copyright 2015 Philip J De Parto:

Rutgers University Neuroscience Professor James Tepper was kind enough to fill in when our original speaker had to cancel for the Association's Saturday, October 10, 2015 General Meeting. Dr Tepper has been a prolific reviewer of books and other products on Amazon and a member of the S F A B C for some years, making his presence known through comments on various Google Groups. This was the first time any of us had the opportunity to meet him in the flesh.

This was a wide-ranging talk with lots of questions and audience participation. The material fell into three areas: science fiction and book reviews; the academic process of grant applications and science journal publication; and the science of the nervous system and the brain.

Our speaker grew up reading DC Comic Books and the Tom Swift Junior novels. He spoke about some of his favorite authors such as Stephen King and Lee Child. When he reviews a book, he looks for either a plot element or characters who grab onto you and don't let go. There are times when he can identify why a story works for him, but there are other times when it simply resonates with him. In recent years Mr Tepper has focused largely on self-published works because while he has not come across any masterpieces, many of them are worth reading. A book receives a *** review if it is good enough to keep him reading to the end.

Dr Tepper observed that young scientists face incredible pressure to publish in journals like SCIENCE and NATURE, so they often cut corners in the write-ups of their research. There is little pay or glory in reviewing other people's research, so often articles are not properly vetted and wind up being retracted at a later date. The problem is particularly acute when scientists articulate a hypothesis. Dr Tepper stated that it is not necessary to have a hypothesis to conduct useful research. Collect the data first, then worry about constructing a theory to interpret it. The politicalization of scientific research is another problem which has mushroomed in recent years. It is much easier to kill a grant than to convince a committee that a thinking-outside-the-box experiment has merit.

Many different aspects of NeuroScience were discussed in the course of the evening: the effects of drug abuse, Alzheimer's and other diseases of the mind, the Central Nervous System and the Peripheral Nervous System, biochemical agents, the architecture of the brain, memory and consciousness, the differences between operation of the brain and the operation of a computer. More information about these topics will appear on the October 2015 Meeting Page of the club website at a later date. This was an extremely lively meeting and our thanks to everyone involved.

Additional Notes the Talk:

Doctor Tepper is also a rock-and-roll guitarist. Damage to his hand restricts his ability to play.

Our speaker predicts that NeuroScience will become the most popular undergraduate major.

Most illustrations of neurons are cartoons of what a neuron actually looks like.

Only 4% of your body's neurons are Interneurons. They do the body's internal processing and are found only in the Central Nervous System.

The European Union's Human Brain Project is in the process of crashing.

British Physician Richard Caton discovered the EKG. The subject must be alive in order to produce brain activity. Technological limitations prevented earlier attempts to study it.

The brain is incredibly plastic, even for adults. This is why humans brains do not crash like computers.

LSD and marijuana alter the synaptic connections.

Every drug that blocks schizophrenia effects the dramaminet and every user eventually develops Parkinson's Syndrome symptoms.

Transcranial Magnetic Stimulations (TMS) reveal how memory works.

One of the functions of the hippocampus is to allow us to make generalizations.

There is a relationship between serotonin and dopamine.

Dr Tepper created the computer programs for his laboratory because the software did not exist.

We may now have the ability to give vision to the blind. There is a virus which induces other cells to become light sensitive.

The Peripheral Nervous System can regenerate; the Central Nervous System does not.

You don't reach maturity until bout 23 when your brain stops altering.