Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
Users are more likely to agree with opinions when they’re delivered by a computer generated head that mirrors their movements.
The Times discusses a recent meeting on the ‘Science of Happiness and the new focus on ‘positive psychology’.
An outbreak of a rare form of the brain infection encephalitis threatens parts of India.
PINs, codes and passwords strain the brain (via BrainBlog).
Scientific American discusses research on what are being increasingly called ‘Halle Berry neurons‘ (see also previously on Mind Hacks).
Clowns help children cope with uncomfortable surgery but annoy Doctors (I love the image of a Clown squirting surgeons with trick flowers during surgery, much to the child’s delight).
A symposium on LSD is announced for 2006, on the centenery of its discovery discoverer (via MetaFilter).
Do computer harm children’s development? Yes, argues educator Lowell Monke.
Mind Hacks 
Oops. This symposium is scheduled for the centenary of LDS’s **discoverer**, not its **discovery**. The one-hundredth anniversary of the latter is still a ways down the line.
Still, an interesting event to think about!