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Addiction is a funny thing in our culture -- people who are actually addicted to a substance actively deny it ("I just like to smoke!"), while other people claim addiction for every random thing they happen to enjoy ("I'm addicted to these delicious candy bars!").
But as science gets a better understanding of how addiction works in the brain, suddenly a whole lot of our everyday habits make more sense. Things like ...

Your brain contains more than 100 billion neurons that flawlessly work together to create consciousness and thought. It is an astonishing marvel of evolution and adaptation, and it is also a huge dick.What do we mean by that? Well, everyone wants to be happy, but the biggest obstacle to that is the mushy thing inside your skull that you think with. Evolution has left your brain with all sorts of mechanisms that are heavily biased toward misery. We can't guarantee that reading this article will help, for your brain is as crafty as it is sadistic. But at least you'll understand it better.

Social practices and cultural beliefs of modern life are preventing healthy brain and emotional development in children, according to an interdisciplinary body of research presented recently at a symposium at the University of Notre Dame. "Life outcomes for American youth are worsening, especially in comparison to 50 years ago," says Darcia Narvaez, Notre Dame professor of psychology who specializes in moral development in children and how early life experiences can influence brain development.

There is a huge difference between, say, going to the dentist now versus a hundred years ago, when it was just a drunk guy sticking leeches onto your chest and punching you until the defective tooth flew out. Yet, if you commit a crime, you'll find that much of that process hasn't changed in decades, if not centuries. Is it because these techniques that you've seen in a million crime dramas are perfect and impossible to be improved upon?
Hell, no. It's just that some habits are really hard to freaking change.

If there's one thing that working as undercover assassins and fighting terrorists in tall buildings has taught us, it's that everything worthy in life can be learned from movies. So if you're looking for love, there's nothing like sitting down with a bunch of romantic comedies and letting their sage lessons filter into your brain like music from a stereo held aloft by John Cusack.

Unfortunately, though, it's not quite that simple. When done in real life, many of the tricks used by onscreen singletons to successfully woo potential lovers can get you put away for a long time.

To Grant Government More Power in the Hopes that it Will Defend Human Life is Foolish.

Health care? Abortion? War? The State, as an institution, is not pro-life in any way. It's a mistake to allow it more power in the hopes that it will defend life. A look at a few points within the U.S. Federal State will help bring this fact more clearly to home.

This article looks at 2 things:
1 - the government itself has stated that it has no responsibility to defend you
2 - politicians (even "pro-life" ones) do not have convictions, they only have platforms.

We could all probably start making an effort to live more healthily, but most of us either can't find the time or are too busy eating Oreos to walk to the treadmill. Well, in a twist of fate so beautiful you want to make passionate love to it on the couch with the blinds open, science is now claiming that the most seemingly innocent things you do (or did) on a daily basis can be just as good for you as a lifetime of exercise and carrot juice.

A pill to make you smarter? New drug grows brain cells

The drug helps more baby brain cells survive and grow to become functioning brain cells.

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Researchers have found a drug that can help the brain grow new cells and said their study may lead to ways to improve experimental Alzheimer's drugs.

The researchers' work, done on rodents, builds on findings that all mammals, including humans, make brain cells throughout their lives. Most of these die, but this drug helps more of the baby cells survive and grow to become functioning brain cells.

MSN News: As a generation of men are growing up with virtual sex lives, their real-life partners are becoming increasingly unhappy, a new study finds. Specifically, young women with porn-loving partners feel they just can't measure up to Jenna Jameson—or whoever happens to tickle their man's fancy.