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How far should doctors go in attempting to cure addiction? In China, some physicians are taking the most extreme measures. By destroying parts of the brain's "pleasure centers" in heroin addicts and alcoholics, these neurosurgeons hope to stop drug cravings. But damaging the brain region involved in addictive desires risks permanently ending the entire spectrum of natural longings and emotions, including the ability to feel joy.

It's not the morphine, it's the size of the cage: Rat Park experiment upturns conventional wisdom about addiction

Dopamine makes you addicted to seeking information in an endless loop.

AA and rehab culture have shockingly low success rates, and made it impossible to have real debate about addiction

Dopamine might be the media's neurotransmitter of choice for scare stories about addiction, but the reality is rather more nuanced

Teens who smoked or had smoked in the past had shrunken structures in areas linked to memory

A dangerous new form of a powerful stimulant is hitting markets nationwide, for sale by the vial, the gallon and even the barrel. The drug is nicotine, in its potent, liquid form - extracted from tobacco and tinctured with a cocktail of flavorings, colorings and assorted chemicals to feed the fast-growing electronic cigarette industry.

. Frieden and public health specialists everywhere are seeking better ways to help the 44 million Americans who still smoke to quit and to keep young people from getting hooked on cigarettes. "Fewer than 2 percent of doctors smoke. Why can't we get to that rate in society as a whole?" he wondered