Six months into the Obama Administration, a clear pattern of legislative pragmatism has emerged: focus on winning the big votes and don't fret too much about losing some of the details. Working at a furious pace, Obama's team has racked up by almost any measure one of the most successful early records in modern memory, especially if you focus on big scoreboard numbers and not the detailed stats. But each of his team's major accomplishments — ...

If you or your parents are of a certain age, then you may understand the unique terror of suddenly drawing a blank — that unexpected moment when you can't remember the name of a lifelong friend or what you had for lunch that day. You wonder, anxiously, "Have I stepped down the long, slow, inexorable road to losing my mind?"   There is, of course, no cure for memory loss, and no preventive vaccine. Yet a rapidly growing body of ...

Cutting daily calorie intake by 30 percent may put the brakes on the aging process, have beneficial effects on the brain, and result in a longer life span, according to a new 20-year study of monkeys published in the journal Science. The study confirms in primates what's long been known in other species, including mice, worms, and flies. And it's no surprise to the humans who have taken the animal research to heart and adopted calorie restriction as a means ...

A landmark ruling that legalized gay sex between consenting partners in India was challenged Thursday in the country's high court, lawyers said. The supreme court issued a notice to the nonprofit Naz Foundation that had won a lower-court verdict after a seven-year legal fight to decriminalize gay sex. Notices also were issued to the federal government and the New Delhi high court, which ruled last week that consensual sex between partners of the same gender was legal. An astrologer filed ...

Alfa Demmellash grew up on less than a dollar a day, and against the backdrop of torture and murder. But these days she's living the American dream and helping others do the same. "Entrepreneurs are at the very heart of what the American dream is all about," says Demmellash, a native of Ethiopia. And from her small office in Jersey City, her nonprofit, Rising Tide Capital, is helping small businesses flourish. Robin Munn, who runs a flower shop ...

The highway that runs between Kabul and the southeastern city of Kandahar is the most brutal evidence of the Taliban's IED offensive. The road is a showcase U.S.-funded project, meant to connect two of the country's most vital commercial centers. But today it is an automotive graveyard, littered with burned-out carcasses of vehicles and disrupted by crumbled bridges. One infamous stretch is lined with the wreckage of 40 transport trucks, the remains of a 90-minute enemy ambush dubbed the ...

Volunteering at church. Working part-time at a bookstore. Selling real estate. All are worthwhile pursuits, but not exactly what Peter Marshall thought he'd be doing after he graduated from Vanderbilt Law School this spring. Particularly since he received a coveted offer last September to join a white-shoe Chicago firm, Kirkland & Ellis. Then the economic crisis set in, and as legal work across the country has dried up, many large and mid-sized firms have turned to a surprising ...

For most Americans, mosquitoes are pests whose bites leave behind itchy bumps. But in other parts of the world, mosquitoes carry a disease called malaria that kills more than a million people each year. A new malaria vaccine that's about to begin human clinical trials is dependent on mosquitoes -- a whole lot of them. Bioengineers have been growing millions of mosquitoes in a sterile environment, letting them feed on malaria-infected blood, irradiating the bugs, extracting the disease-causing parasites and ...

World-famous rapper T.I. will appear in a federal courtroom Friday for sentencing on weapons charges related to purchasing machine guns and silencers. T.I., whose real name is Clifford Harris, is expected to be sentenced to one year in prison and be ordered to pay a $100,000 fine, under the terms of a plea agreement reached with authorities last year. The agreement allowed Harris to remain out of prison for a year while he performed 1,000 hours of community service. In ...

In a quick and clearly unscripted moment, President Obama exhibited the power of words during his history-making visit Thursday with Jay Leno. While joking on The Tonight Show about his bowling prowess (during last year's campaign trail he shamefully scored 37 in a game), Obama said he'd been practicing at the White House lanes and boasted to Leno, "I bowled a 129. It's like -- it was like Special Olympics or something." The comment during the taping of the show ...