Why someone becomes addicted to a substance has long baffled scientists and philosophers. Now leading researchers are getting the clearest picture yet of how addiction works in the brain and body.

For years, addiction was seen as a matter of personal failure—a bad habit or a lack of discipline. People believed those who struggled with substance abuse could stop if they simply wanted to. But ...

From meditation to molecular science, addiction treatment is being reinvented. See how new breakthroughs are giving hope for recovery.

Explore the connections between the world of neuroscience and nuances of substance use disorders with our inaugural episode of In Such a Place. We’ll speak with Dr. Anna Radke, a leading expert in the ...

For decades, Americans have been told a simple story about addiction: taking drugs damages the brain—and the earlier in life children start using substances, the more likely they are to progress ...

Remarkable scientific progress over the past five decades has helped us develop knowledge of how drugs of abuse induce pleasure, reinforce use, and lead to the compulsive self-administration we call ...

Ramirez is an associate professor of psychological and brain sciences at Boston University. When philosophers imagined the ship of Theseus, they asked: Can a vessel that has all its planks replaced ...

This frame-by-frame animation follows Whisker’s struggle with opioid addiction and path to recovery, guided by Dr. Paws. It ...

Once cannabis has hijacked the reward center, daily users have no destination in mind. Here's how parents maintain empathy for an addicted child.

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with James Kimmel Jr., lecturer in psychiatry at the Yale School of Medicine, about his new book "The Science of Revenge." A guy cuts you off in traffic. You have the chance ...