Quick links from the past week in mind and brain news:
Providentia overs the curious history of Japan’s suicide volcano.
Skepticism about ‘social priming’ is driven by a long-history of doubt about subliminal priming of behaviour. Good piece on Daniel Simons’ Blog.
The New York Times has an amazing video about technology to enhance the perception of motion.
The ‘Vaccine Resistance Movement’ has an anti-vaccination conference in Vancouver on March 12th. Bizarrely it is being hosted by Simon Fraser University. If you want to contact them and make your views known you can do so here.
Neurobonkers covers a genuine scientific study on what gains Twitter followers. Note to self: posting pictures of yourself in underwear only works if you’re a glamour model.
We’re all Jonah Lehrer except me. Neuroskeptic on narrative and neuroscience.
The Fix discusses the overuse of ‘addiction’ to describe bad choices.
UK public art and neuroscience events currenty running: Affecting Perception taking place in Oxford and Wonder happening in London.
Slate has a form from 1889 to leave your brain to science. Only brains of “educated and orderly persons rather than those of the ignorant, criminal or insane”!
London neuroscience centre to map ‘connectome‘ of foetal brain reports Wired UK.
Mind Hacks 
Thank you for alerting us all to the anti-vax conference. I have sent the following letter.
My name is Tyson Kilpatrick and I am a doctor of clinical pharmacy specializing in neuroscience at the University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital and have spent many years educating the public and health care providers on the subject of vaccine safety. I was recently made aware of your institution’s hosting of the “Vaccine Resistance Movement” on March 12th.
I would like to voice my consternation and make a fervent plea to the administration of a well respected center of learning to reconsider advancing the agenda of this anti-scientific cause. The anti-vaccination movement is considered by virtually all clinically practicing health care providers as the single most dangerous and malevolent entity currently facing medicine. The morbidity and mortality manifested by this organization has mounted to the point of crisis within a very short period of time and the long term consequences will continue to be felt for decades even if they were stopped today.
Abetting this dogmatic propaganda is tantamount to support and there are many who will conflate the hosting of this conference as open approval from Simon Fraser University. If you would like more information concerning the evidenciary basis for the claims made against the Vaccine Resistance Movement, please feel free to contact me at this address.
Thank you very much for your consideration.
Tyson Kilpatrick B.S., Pharm.D.
Clinical Specialty Practitioner
University of Alabama Birmingham Hospital
Dept of Pharmacy
Neurological Sciences
8th Floor NP 205-975-7791 (office)
I’d bet the anti-vaccine group simply rented a room at SFU – the downtown campus is a popular paid event venue. Question remains whether SFU should want to rent to them, but I see no evidence it’s their event.