Blog Posts by Piper Weiss, Shine Staff

Meet Trent. He's one of many guys giving away sperm online for free. (via Trentdonor.org)
The price of sperm is going up. On average, donor banks charge $2000 for a sample. Add that to the cost of IVF treatments and you're looking at spending seven figures on getting pregnant with no guarantee of results. So women in need of a man's special formula are turning to the internet where free donor banks have set up headquarters. On Friday, "20/20" will feature a woman who turned to the free stuff after spending $70,000 in failed pregnancy attempts. As you might imagine, her experience isn't as clinical as a bank where money's exchanged.

On sites like Known Donor Registry, it's up to donors disclose medical reports, family histories and personal profiles. Background checks are at the expense of the recipient. Unlike official sperm banks where donors remain anonymous, these candidates also have the option to have contact with the child as a co-parent or family friend, or to have their future spawn contact them once they turn 18. Then there's Trent Arsenault, founder of

Since the new year began, actresses have been pushing useless products harder than the Sham-Wow guy. A spate of  fashion campaigns, fronted by Hollywood's leading ladies have been rolled out this month—Katie Holmes for H.Stern, Lindsay Lohan for Jag Jeans and Philip Plein, Kate Winslet for St. John and Mila Kunis for Cristian Dior. Advertising experts suggest famous faces provide the kind of brand recognition models can't.

Here's another theory: fashion photographers need women who can act. How else are you going to believe any of the modeling poses they're Gumby-ed into are natural? There are only a few circumstances where a human might hover her hand over a corner of her mouth or turn her arm into a halter top. It's a famous spokesperson's job to make it all seem believable. Seductive even. Consider the latest proof from celebrity ad campaigns introduced this month...

The pose: Fingers creeping toward the corner of the mouth
The models: Mila Kunis for Christian Dior, Katie Holmes

(Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)When her long-running show "Kate Plus 8" ended in September, everyone including Kate Gosselin wondered what she'd do next. Here's your long-awaited answer: she's going cruising. Alice Travel is offering a week long Caribbean adventure in August hosted by the much maligned reality star. But will anyone actually join her?

It's not likely, according to a poll posted on the website Cruise Critic. More than 45 percent of readers said they'd cancel their trip if they got wind of her being on board.

"What a great way to empty a cruise ship! I'd cancel if booked," wrote one of over 600 bemused commenters on Cruise Critic's Facebook page.

Bookings opened to the public Friday, with premium suites going at a rate of up to $5,550. By Wednesday, there was still plenty of room on deck for passengers. While the travel agency handling the trip told Cruise Critic they've received "a good amount of calls" from single women and parents of multiples, the booker I spoke with had no specific projection

(ThinkStock Photos)A long-term study published in the Journal of the American Heart Association has confirmed what 16th century poets have known all along: heartbreak can be deadly.

A husband dies and his wife dies just days later. A mother suffers a massive heart attack after the loss of her child. It's a tragic phenomenon that speaks to the strong bonds between humans and according to new research, it's even more common than previously believed.

Past studies have linked heart problems with the grieving period after a loved one dies. Japanese cardiologists first identified the phenomenon in 1990. This new report, however, suggests that a grieving person is 21 times more susceptible to a heart attack right after the death of a beloved.

Doctors at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center in Boston tracked 2,000 heart attack patients over a period of five years. While they found that patients with a history of heart problems were more prone to attacks, even those with perfectly strong hearts were at risk