There is a belief that someone decides to try a cigarette, reads a warning label, and then never does. This belief is perpetuated by the industry that has built itself around taxing and penalizing cigarette companies and taking that money to lobby against cigarettes.

It is the perfect business model because it does not work, and so there will always be a market.

Every once in a while, psychologists will do some surveys and provide a paper reaffirming new ways to make sure anti-smoking efforts are always funded but never succeed. In this case, by saying warning labels just need to be bigger.

Sometimes we have to wonder in amazement about things found out in the universe. Case in point: a slinky string of pearls twisted into a corkscrew shape.

Nothing special about that. Except this string is 100,000 light years long.

The pearls in the string are superclusters of blazing, blue-white, newly born stars and the structure forms a bridge between two giant elliptical galaxies that are colliding. These young, blue "super star clusters" are evenly spaced along the chain at separations of 3,000 light-years from one another.

There are a lot of conflicting reports about the common elbow surgery made famous by Major League Baseball pitcher, Tommy John - Ulna Collateral Ligament (UCL) reconstruction surgery. Some reports show it helps pitchers win more games, some show it does not.

It's been known for some time that  gastric bypass surgery
 doesn't just help obese patients lose weight, it also cures diabetes in the majority of patients that undergo it. Type 2 diabetes is linked to diabetes but studies have found that gastric bypass surgery can rapidly put diabetes into a state of remission - regardless of weight loss.

Improved insulin resistance within the first week after surgery remains unexplained but a new paper in Endocrinology says it may be explained by the actions of specialized cells in the intestine that secrete a cocktail of powerful hormones when we eat.  

Researchers have discovered the link between antibiotics and bacterial biofilm formation leading to chronic lung, sinus and ear infections. Bacterial biofilms can actually thrive, rather than decrease, when given low doses of antibiotics.

 Biofilms are highly structured communities of microorganisms that attach to one another and to surfaces. The microorganisms group together and form a slimy, polysaccharide cover. This layer is highly protective for the organisms within it, and when new bacteria are produced they stay within the slimy layer. With the introduction of antibiotic-produced glycogen, the biofilms have an almost endless food source that can be used once antibiotic exposure has ended.

If a young patient needs anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) surgery, it's better to get it done. Postponing is risks secondary knee injuries, according to a paper at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's (AOSSM) Annual Meeting.

The anterior cruciate ligament is one of the four major ligaments connecting the thighbone (femur), shinbone (tibia), and kneecap (patella) to form the knee joint. The cruciate Ligaments are found inside the knee joint and control its back and forth motion and they cross each other to form an 'x' shape, with the posterior cruciate ligament in back and the anterior cruciate ligament in front.