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Editor’s Selections: Movies, Addiction, and Liking

Here are my Research Blogging Editor’s Selections for this week: A new post by Scicurious recommends, “If you’re trying to quit smoking, it’s best to stay away from movies or TV shows depicting smoking, which might induce craving and cause you to relapse.” Easier said than done, perhaps.

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Here are my Research Blogging Editor's Selections for this week:

  • A new post by Scicurious recommends, "If you're trying to quit smoking, it's best to stay away from movies or TV shows depicting smoking, which might induce craving and cause you to relapse." Easier said than done, perhaps. Movies and the Smoking Brain.

  • Dirk Hanson of Addiction Inbox writes, "Every day, addicts are quitting drugs and alcohol by availing themselves of drug treatments that did not exist fifteen years ago." However, not every treatment works for everyone, and some of the differences in responses to specific anti-craving medications may lie in genetic variations. Personalizing Addiction Medicine.

  • An interesting - and somewhat surprising - finding is explained by Janelle of her eponymous research blog. The causes you "like" on Facebook may actually matter.

Jason G. Goldman is a science journalist based in Los Angeles. He has written about animal behavior, wildlife biology, conservation, and ecology for Scientific American, Los Angeles magazine, the Washington Post, the Guardian, the BBC, Conservation magazine, and elsewhere. He contributes to Scientific American's "60-Second Science" podcast, and is co-editor of Science Blogging: The Essential Guide (Yale University Press). He enjoys sharing his wildlife knowledge on television and on the radio, and often speaks to the public about wildlife and science communication.

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