The drug addicts’ brain scans that Dr. Stephen Dewey takes appear in psychedelic shades of red, yellow, green and blue, each indicating a level of brain activity — or inactivity. Red means excited. Blue is dormant. Dewey is the laboratory director for behavioral and molecular neuro-imaging at the North Shore-LIJ Feinstein Institute for Medical Research. In that capacity, he’s put hundreds of addicts’ brains to the test — the positron emission tomography test, that is — seeking to understand precisely what happens to the mind when a pot smoker lights up or a heroin junkie shoots up. And, he has found, it isn’t pretty. more

Summer driving season is in full swing, and we’re out on the roads in large numbers. The absence of winter’s dangers can make it seem like a safer time to drive . . . more

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was celebrated around the country on Monday as a man who played a vital role in the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950s and 1960s. The Baldwin School District celebrated his life and his birthday last week with its annual program that consistsed of performances and speeches. more

St. Christopher School routinely hosts events for students to participate in and have some fun after school. But last week, parents got in on the fun during Black and Blue Night in the school’s gymnasium. more

Patients should stop thinking of powerful pain medications like Oxycontin and Vycodin as slightly stronger versions of Tylenol and Advil. Rather, they should think of them as “heroin pills.” That’s according to Dr. Andrew Kolodny, president of Physicians for Responsible Opioid Prescribing and chief medical officer for Phoenix House, a national, nonprofit drug treatment agency. more

Every day, 2,500 teens across the country, ages 12 to 17, get high off prescription drugs, and 70 percent of them obtain their narcotics from family members or friends –– most often by swiping them from bathroom medicine cabinets, according to Wendy Tepfer, executive director of the Bellmore-Merrick Community Parent Center. more

In jumping into the teacher-tenure debate, I know I’m stirring up a hornet’s nest. But who doesn’t like a little danger now and again? So here goes. more

How does any parent raise a child to succeed in life? That is the most basic, yet profound — many might say confounding — question that any mother or father might ask. more

Education in New York’s public schools has changed in recent years with the implementation of the Common Core State Standards and the property tax cap in 2012. Educators, board members and parents have voiced their disdain with each, but with the first round of state assessments this week, their message has grown louder. more

Q: I bought a house about a year ago. Since moving in I discovered several problems that didn't show up on the home inspection. Isn't the seller obligated to disclose … more