Specific and individuated death reflection fosters identity integration

Identity integration is the process wherein a person assimilates multiple or conflicting identities (e.g., beliefs, values, needs) into a coherent, unified self-concept. Three experiments examined whether contemplating mortality in a specific and individuated manner (i.e., via the death reflection manipulation) facilitated outcomes indicative of identity integration. Participants in the death reflection condition (vs. control conditions) considered positive and negative life experiences as equally important in shaping their current identity (Experiment 1), regarded self-serving values and other-serving values as equally important life principles (Experiment 2), and were equally motivated to pursue growth-oriented and security-oriented needs (Experiment 3). Death reflection motivates individuals to integrate conflicting aspects of their identity into a coherent self-concept. Given that identity integration is associated with higher well-being, the findings have implications for understanding the psychological benefits of existential contemplation

Formation of Ordered Ice Nanotubes Inside Carbon Nanotubes

Following their discovery, carbon nanotubes have attracted interest not only for their unusual electrical and me-chanical properties, but also because their hollow interior can serve as a nanometre-sized capillary, mould, or template in material fabrication. The ability to en¬capsulate a material in a nanotube also offers new possibili¬ties for investigating dimensionally confined phase transi¬tions . Particularly intriguing is the conjecture that matter within the narrow confines of a carbon nanotube might ex¬hibit a solid–liquid critical point beyond which the distinc¬tion between solid and liquid phases disappears. This unusual feature, which cannot occur in bulk material, would allow for the direct and continuous transformation of liquid matter into a solid. Here we report simulations of the behavior of water encapsulated in carbon nanotubes that suggest the existence of a variety of new ice phases not seen in bulk ice, and of a solid–liquid critical point. Using carbon nanotubes with diameters ranging from 1.1 nm to 1.4 nm and applied axial pressures of 50 MPa to 500 MPa, we find that water can exhibit a first-or¬der freezing transition to hexagonal and heptagonal ice nano¬tubes, and a continuous phase transformation into solid-like square or pentagonal ice nanotubes