Smoking wrecks Brain

Nicotine causes degeneration in a region of the brain that affects emotional control, sexual arousal, REM sleep and seizures, UCLA neuroscientists report in the current issue of the journal Neuropharmacology. "Nicotine causes the most selective degeneration in the brain that I have ever seen," said UCLA neuroscientist Gaylord Ellison, a professor of psychology and member of UCLA's Brain Research Institute. "Only one tract of the brain is affected."