Some photography sessions are so long, they induce “battle fatigue.” But just when artist and subject are about to quit, “the picture comes.”

Why the veteran photographer arranges the lights just minutes before a shoot, yet agonizes over the music she plays for each subject.

A conversation with the photographer and art director.

What if humans made contact with aliens? The chair of the SETI Post-Detection Task Group explains the issues we’d confront and how scientists and government would respond.

The cosmologist describes the cosmos in 60 seconds.

“You’ve got to get away from the idea cancer is a disease to be cured. … Cancer is in a way nature’s experiment with life.”

Seeking a “penicillin moment” in cancer research through a radically new approach.

If humans contacted aliens, the astrobiologist would be the man in charge of sending the first message. So what would he say?

OK, Paul Davies admits it’s a “crazy idea.” But if we want to improve our search for ET, it’s the kind of idea we might need.

Good luck finding intelligent life within 1,000 light years. As for super-advanced alien civilizations, they’re probably closer to the center of the galaxy.

If we want to test the idea that life forms easily in Earthlike conditions, why not search for organisms outside our tree of life—right here on Earth?

“There’s no lack of real estate” where life might spring up in the universe. So why has our search for ET turned up nothing?

The theory that life on our planet originated on Mars was originally dismissed as a “crackpot notion.” It’s now considered a distinct possibility.

A conversation with the Arizona State University cosmologist and astrobiologist.

The information revolution may turn everyday people into ocean conservationists.

As the oil spill continues to plague the Gulf, the deep-sea explorer makes a passionate case for saving ocean life.

You may like the taste, but is your dinner worth its cost to our ecosystem?

Some sea life may think, sense and feel in ways that are beyond our comprehension.

Sharks are scary, but an ecosystem without them is even scarier.

Sylvia Earle describes an intimate encounter with a 40-foot-long humpback whale.

The ocean’s depths are home to organisms that have been around for nearly half a billion years.

Forget sharks and predatory animals—the most dangerous aspect of diving is oxygen.

A young Sylvia Earle realized that some sea creatures were as interested in her as she was in them.

97% of Earth’s water is ocean. Without the ocean, Earth would be much like Mars: a bleak, barren, inhospitable place.

A conversation with the oceanographer and founder of Mission Blue.

The travel columnist would live in either Queens or Ho Chi Minh City if he had to stay put for 10 years.

When you walk long distances, you see places that no one else has seen.

The New York Times’ Frugal Traveler columnist on what gear you shouldn’t leave home without.

A hotel “that’s run by someone small and creative and clever is going to be much better than the place that you get simply because you have money.”

A conversation with the New York Times’ Frugal Traveler columnist.