"This is a mother to all of us who left Iraq," AlKarkhi says. "So when you look at it, you look into your mother's eye. The eyes of this woman reflect the eyes of the mothers of everybody who left home." Photo: Walid Jawad hide caption

Bedouin children play with their camels after a day of giving rides to tourists in June in Dahab, Egypt. Dan Kitwood/Getty Images hide caption

As many as 100,000 people visited Sun City, Ariz., when the community opened on New Year's weekend in 1960. Del Webb/Pulte hide caption

Konarka uses this blue chamber to test solar panels. It re-creates light conditions at noon at the equator. Chris Arnold/NPR hide caption

Officials look at the wreckage of American Airlines Flight 331, which skidded off the runway while trying to land in Kingston, Jamaica, on Dec. 22. Kerry Sanders/NBC NewsWire/AP hide caption

The markets of Aleppo brim with fresh vegetables and spices. Deborah Amos/NPR hide caption

Atul Gawande is associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and a staff member of Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. His other books include Better and Complications. Fred Field hide caption