Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
A free Critical Neuroscience <a href="http://neuroanthropology.net/2008/11/14/critical-neuroscience-conference-at-ucla/
“>conference is being held in Berkeley UCLA on Jan 30th. Check the link for more information or see this jpg poster.
BPS Research Digest looks at interesting research suggesting that Tetris might work as a ‘cognitive vaccine’ against the development of trauma.
US Government claims futuristic security checkpoints have remarkably terrorist detecting capability on the basis of a Windows desktop shot and an unreleased ‘test’, reports TechFragments.
The Guardian has an extended book review article where neuroscientist Steven Rose discusses the latest theories about the human brain.
The excellent Developing Intelligence finds an interesting <a href="The Science of Mind-Reading: SVMs Extract Intentions from Neural Activity
http://scienceblogs.com/developingintelligence/2009/01/svms_decode_intentions_the_sta.php”>video on ‘brain scan mind reading’.
The New York Times profiles Emily Yudofsky who just set up a fledgling ‘neuromarketing’ company.
Children with developmental language disorder are the topic of a recent Health Report programme from ABC Radio National.
Neuroanimations is a site intended for neurosurgeons that describes various brain pathologies with, unsurprisingly, animations.
The UK is suffering a shortage of people who donate their brains after death for essential research into conditions like Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease, reports BBC News.
RadioLab just broadcast another one of their wonderfully produced shows. This one on <a href="Radiolab diagnosis
http://blogs.wnyc.org/radiolab/2008/12/30/diagnosis/”>diagnosis. Excellent apart from the slightly over-enthusiastic brain scans to diagnose psychiatric disorders bit.
An essay discussing why kindness is seen in such a bad light in modern times is printed in The Guardian, looks to be an extract from a forthcoming book.
Cognitive Daily examines research on the pain killing effects of your favourite music.
BBC Radio 4’s Case Notes has a special on the sense of taste.
Neuroskeptic has an excellent takedown of much of the recent misinformed coverage about ‘why men like computer games‘.
Gregory Petsko discusses the coming neurological epidemic in a talk for TED.
Furious Seasons casts a skeptical eye over a recent American Journal of Psychiatry paper trying to explain why there’s such a large placebo response in antidepressant drugs trials in children.
People overestimate their reactions to racist comments, according to new research covered by Not Exactly Rocket Science.
Mind Hacks 
Unless I read it wrong it looks like the free conference is in Westwood (UCLA) not Berekely (Cal), at least thats what the poster says.