To Nadya Suleman, Dr. Michael Kamrava was a hero. Suleman sought treatment at Kamrava's West Coast IVF Clinic, in order to conceive all 14 of her children - the last batch of whom generated worldwide headlines as only the second living set of octuplets born in the United States. However, to other fertility practitioners and professional reproductive associations, Kamrava's reported means were troubling. And at least one former client had little heroic to say. "I didn't like him at all. ...

A record number of Americans served time in corrections systems across the country in 2007, according to a report released Monday by the Pew Center on the States. The U.S. correctional population -- those in jail, prison, on probation or on parole -- totaled 7.3 million, or 1 in every 31 adults. The Pew Center on the States compiled the information from Justice Department and Census Bureau statistics. America's prison population has skyrocketed over the past quarter ...

Susan Fradin has nightmares about Cheerios. Specifically, the Honey Nut variety. Her son Noah is allergic to peanuts and almonds, and her nighttime torment began during his first trip to sleepaway camp, when he was 9. Fradin, a former publicist in Los Angeles, worried that her son would eat cereal he shouldn't and go into anaphylactic shock. "I woke up in the middle of the night thinking, What if he eats Honey Nut Cheerios thinking they are regular Cheerios?" she ...

On a recent afternoon, Pamela Rinchich quietly recalled how her cancer doctor abruptly canceled an appointment. Rinchich owed $268 from a previous visit: She didn't have the money and the doctor refused to see her until she paid. "I offered to do whatever I could, even work in the office to cover it," said Rinchich, with tears in her eyes. Just a few months earlier, life was going great for Rinchich. She was planning a wedding with her fiancé, Jim, ...

Four people in two states have been arrested as part of an investigation into the Final Exit Network, an organization that police believe helped a Georgia man end his life in June, authorities said Thursday. Black, a 55-year-old former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, isn't the only person who holds such firm beliefs, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which today released its annual hate group report. The center's report, "The Year in Hate," found the number of ...

Don Black says he despises Barack Obama. And he says he believes illegal aliens undermine the economic fabric of our country. Black, a 55-year-old former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard, isn't the only person who holds such firm beliefs, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, which today released its annual hate group report. The center's report, "The Year in Hate," found the number of hate groups grew by 54 percent since 2000. The study identified 926 hate groups ...

Most people dream enthusiastically at night, their dreams seemingly occupying hours, even though most last only a few minutes. Most people also read great meaning into their nocturnal visions. In fact, according to a new study in the Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, the vast majority of people in three very different countries — India, South Korea, and the United States — believe that their dreams reveal meaningful, hidden truths. According to the study, 74% of ...

Likud Party leader Benjamin Netanyahu was chosen Friday to form Israel's next government, Israeli President Shimon Peres' office said. The decision comes after Avigdor Lieberman, head of the right-wing Yisrael Beytenu party, said he would recommend Netanyahu for the post, but only if he promises to form a "broad-based" coalition government. In last week's parliamentary elections, no single party won the minimum 61 seats needed to form a government. That means a government of two or more parties is virtually ...

Shark attacks on humans were at the lowest levels in half a decade last year, and a Florida researcher says hard economic times may be to blame. Sharks attacked 59 people in 2008, the lowest number of attacks since 57 in 2003, according to George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File, part of the Florida Museum of Natural History on the University of Florida campus in Gainesville. There were 71 attacks in 2007. "One can't help but think ...

Is it possible to cultivate genius? Could we somehow structure our educational and social life to produce more Einsteins and Mozarts — or, more urgently these days, another Adam Smith or John Maynard Keynes? How to produce genius is a very old question, one that has occupied philosophers since antiquity. In the modern era, Immanuel Kant and Darwin's cousin Francis Galton wrote extensively about how genius occurs. Last year, pop-sociologist Malcolm Gladwell addressed the subject in his book Outliers: The ...