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August 31, 2012 A team of doctors and scientists, known as disease detectives, fly around the world on a moments notice to investigate mystery illnesses or contain outbreaks. These Sherlock Holmes of medicine chatted on Twitter about what it's like to be a disease detective and how you snag the gig.

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August 17, 2012 The rising popularity of premium coffee in the U.S. is having a direct positive effect on some of the poorest farmers in the world. Freelance photographer Jonathan Kalan has seen it firsthand, and explains how this business sprung up in Rwanda and how it continues to benefit the family farmers.

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August 16, 2012 High oil prices and technological advances have made it economically viable to ramp up oil production from Canada's tar sands. The oil pulled out of the ground is so thick and sticky that it needs complex, energy-intensive processing just to get it into a pipeline.

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August 16, 2012 Photographer Tomas van Houtryve entered North Korea with an illegal passport and concocted an elaborate lie to avoid being detained. It was all part of his project to document modern-day communism.

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August 14, 2012 A self-described "panographer" stitches together NASA's photos to create an engaging view of the red planet.

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August 9, 2012 Daily photo galleries from the 2012 Summer Olympics in London.

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August 9, 2012 We've put together an infographic that explores how athletes' bodies have changed over the last century. Those physiques are shaped by years of training — and by the laws of physics.

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August 8, 2012 Glass buildings kill millions of birds each year when the animals crash into windows. By studying how birds interact with buildings, architects and ornithologists are trying to create special features designed to keep birds alive.

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August 1, 2012 For a time, posture contests were all the rage. They gave chiropractors a public relations boost when the profession was fighting for respect. The pageants helped build goodwill and support for licensure, a chiropractic historian says.

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August 1, 2012 Artists Judith and Richard Lang create sculptures from plastic they find washed up on a 1,000-yard stretch of beach in California.

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July 27, 2012 The International AIDS Conference isn't only about medical research. People from around the world met at its Global Village to share their experiences with the AIDS epidemic through music, art and dance. This year's highlights included a condom campaign and lube tasting booth.

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July 25, 2012 A handful of AIDS cases were first recognized in the U.S. at the beginning of the 1980s. By 1990, there was a pandemic. In 1997, more than 3 million people became newly infected with HIV. A multimedia chart lets you track the cases by country over time.

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July 24, 2012 How do you get women to rethink condoms made for them? Advocates are trying a fashion show and the world's longest chain of paper dolls at the international AIDS meeting in Washington. Female condoms are the only contraceptive initiated by woman that protects against HIV infection.

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July 21, 2012 In the 1980s, HIV/AIDS swept across the globe. It soon reached pandemic proportions. In the three decades since, advances in drug therapies have transformed the disease from a death sentence to a chronic illness. In recent years, public health officials have embraced the idea of "test and treat" – that everyone who has HIV should know it and get into treatment right away. With new drug regimens that can reduce the amount of HIV in the blood to undetectable levels, researchers now believe they can halt the spread of HIV and end the pandemic.

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July 19, 2012 Sure, you've got a world-changing idea — but can you explain it? This new collaboration challenges artists to illuminate the inventions of young scientists.

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