NPR News

Part of an occasional series

Today, couples who may never have become parents a generation ago have the wonders of technology to help them. One in every hundred babies in the U.S. is conceived in a laboratory. But because most insurance does not cover fertility treatments, a big barrier remains: money.

That stark reality hit Carla and CJ Van Devander, of Staunton, Va., five years ago. They were crushed to find they could not conceive, and Carla saw a painful irony. They're both teachers, devoted to helping bring up other people's children.

NPR has been profiling some of the Republicans who are considering a presidential run in 2012, to find out what first sparked their interest in politics. Read more of those profiles.

When you ask many politicians what inspired them to a life of public service, you often hear familiar words about a commitment to helping people, or perhaps a desire to run government more like a business.

Newt Gingrich has a different story to tell.

Last in a three-part series

For the United States, Iran — and its nuclear program — is a hard case to crack. It figures prominently in so many American foreign policy challenges: Iraq, Israel and the Palestinians, Afghanistan and the United States' own nuclear program.

For years, successive U.S. administrations have been at a loss to figure out how to change what they call Iran's bad behavior. But in the past year, another option has emerged, says Karim Sadjadpour, an Iran specialist with the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.

In a springtime of pro basketball and hockey playoffs, of NASCAR and, heaven help us, mixed martial arts, it may be hard for anybody on the sunny side of the baby boom era to appreciate that what took place last Saturday would have been, not so long ago, about the biggest sports day of the year.

Yes sir, both the Kentucky Derby — the fabled Run for the Roses — and the greatest boxer on the planet, the legendary Pacman, defending his title. Same day. What a twin bill.

The National Jukebox is spinning tunes – and you don't have to drop any coin to get it to play. Today the Library of Congress and Sony Music Entertainment announced the launch of what's being billed as "the largest collection of historical recordings ever made publicly available online."