The story of Sinbad, a sailor born in Baghdad, and his seven voyages around the world, has survived for more than a thousand years. In its latest Hollywood incarnation, it's easy to forget that Sinbad's adventures are part of the One Thousand and One Nights, Arabic folktales from antiquity.

OK, so there's no such thing as a gamma ray machine that zaps scientists and turns them into giant green monsters. But the science behind Hollywood movies is turning increasingly sophisticated. As audiences grow more science savvy, filmmakers strive to make their movies as realistic as possible.

Although precise figures may never be known, an estimated 56,000 men perished in Civil War prisons, a casualty rate comparable to that of any battle during the war's bloody tenure. Scholars say the high death rate was spurred not by malice, but ignorance about disease and proper dietary and sanitation conditions.

Driving a car that has been obsolete for nearly as long as he is old, a 71-year-old retired orthodontist is attempting to re-create America's first cross-country car trip. The endeavor is one of several to mark the hundred-year anniversary of the first transcontinental car trip in America.

New York City's Central Park hosts concerts, rallies, weddings, and over 25 million visitors each year. It's also a hotspot of urban biodiversity. Starting tomorrow, hundreds of scientists and volunteers will swarm through the park during its first-ever, 24-hour "bioblitz" to catalog every plant and animal species they can find.

Folk healing is in transition in Paraguay. Medicinal plants are in vogue—so much so that some plants are facing near-extinction because of the demand. At the same time, some Paraguayans are converting to modern medicine.

Licensing and monitoring ivory carvers could effectively control the illegal poaching of elephants and at the same time ease the tensions between conservationists and African countries with ivory surpluses, according to new research.

Yesterday, climber Ed Viesturs summited Pakistan's Nanga Parbat, the world's ninth highest mountain. The feat makes Viesturs the first American to climb 13 of the 14 world's 8,000-meter (26,000-foot) peaks—without the use of supplemental oxygen.

The deaths of 14 firefighters on Colorado's Storm King Mountain in 1994 reawakened public awareness about wildfire dangers. Now, with wildfires taking hundreds of homes, those concerns are once again front and center out West. Tom Foreman talks with author Sebastian Junger about the often uncontrollable infernos.

Traditional farming methods in the Burren, the dramatic limestone landscape in western Ireland, are in decline. The falloff in old-style agriculture has imperiled the region's remarkably diverse plant community, including many rare wildflower species.

Charles Maxwell is an underwater cinematographer based in Cape Town, South Africa. A keen diver and lover of the marine environment for 35 years, Maxwell has made documentaries for the National Geographic Society and the BBC. He talks about his life's work and shares some of his favorite underwater images. Two shark photo galleries included:

Scientists have found that New Guinea is one of the few places on Earth where agriculture developed independently. Evidence of taro and banana cultivation has been discovered at the site of Kuk, indicating the emergence of agriculture approximately 6,500 years ago.

The Inamori Foundation announced the laureates of its 19th Annual Kyoto Prizes, international awards presented to people who have contributed significantly to mankind's betterment in the categories of Advanced Technology, Basic Science, and Arts and Philosophy.

Peggy Bulger is the Director of the American Folklife Center at the Library of Congress, an organization dedicated to preserving American music, stories, customs, festivals, unique skills, and much more. The center's recorded archive houses the music and voices of over a century, and provides an intimate glimpse into America's past and a key to our future. Bulger spoke with National Geographic News about the center's tremendous collection, and the critical importance of preserving and promoting our legacy of recorded sound.

Descended from slaves, driven from their homes, and hustled through refugee camps, the Bantu of Somalia are among the most persecuted people. After attempts to repatriate them to their ancestral southern Africa failed, the United States declared them people of "special interest" and accepted 12,000 for settlement in some 50 U.S. cities.