16 year-old Jack Andraka doesn’t think he’s that smart but last year he invented a nearly 100% accurate test for pancreatic cancer that has the potential to save thousands of lives.

A straight-A student since the age of 11 in a public school where half the kids don’t graduate, Andraka’s discovery won him top prize at the International Science and Engineering Fair and $75,000 towards his college tuition – plus another $100,500 in other prize categories.

As Kelly Clarkson's song What Doesn't Kill You (Stronger) played ocver the loudspeakers on the grounds of the VA Center in Los Angeles, Sean Mamola stood waiting for the last rider to cross the finish line of the 2013 edition of AIDS/LifeCycle.

The New York City resident (pictured, right) had finished the 570-mile trek from San Francisco to Los Angeles a few hours earlier but like the thousands of others at Saturday's Finish Line Festival, he wasn't ready for the experience to end.

Some were dressed as Catholic Cardinals, some as Little Orphan Annie and there was an assortment of Little Red Riding Hoods.

On the fifth day of this week's AIDS/LifeCycle, the 7-day, 545-mile bike ride from San Francisco to Los Angeles, riders pedaled their way through small towns in the central part of California in eye-catching red dresses and outfits.

Some even pedaled the 100 miles in pumps.

Participants in California’s 2013 AIDS/LifeCycle race begin their 545-mile bicycle journey today from San Francisco to Los Angeles having raised a record-setting $14.2 million this year to support San Francisco AIDS Foundation and the HIV and AIDS related services of the LA Gay and Lesbian Center.

‘I’m absolutely astounded and enormously grateful for the 20-year fundraising record set by this year’s riders and roadies,’ said LA Gay and Lesbian Center CEO Lorri L Jean, ‘especially since the need for these funds has never been greater.’

Canada is lifting its strict lifetime ban on gay men giving blood, although restrictions will still be in place.

The Canadian Blood Services are hoping to have the new policy in place by mid-summer 2013.

While there will no longer be a lifetime ban, men who have not had sex with other men in the last five years will be allowed to donate blood.

The new policy will replace the existing screening criteria, which excludes potential male donors who have had sex with another man since 1977 — the year HIV began spreading rapidly throughout North America.

There are more myths and misconceptions about cosmetic surgery than about almost anything else you can do to get the body you want.

Harley Medical Group helps clients, gay and straight, male and female, to work through the issues and to have surgery which can often be life-changing.

Patients are guided through it all by a professional nurse – we caught up with Debbie Griffith from the group’s clinic in Leeds, north east England, to find out more about cosmetic surgery for men.

Brazil has guaranteed that gay couples across the country have access to assisted fertilization.

According to Brazilian news website Globo.com, the Federal Council of Medicine (CFM) has adjusted the vague wording in an existing law that some courts used to block same-sex couples from using in-vitro fertilization and other assisted fertilization methods.

I’ve been a supporter of NAT (National AIDS Trust), the UK’s leading HIV campaigning charity, for five years now. One of the reasons I support them is I am passionate about increasing the public’s understanding of HIV – not only to reduce the spread of the virus, but to help eradicate the stigma that unfortunately many people with HIV face.

Over the next year NAT will be campaigning for sex education in schools to better tackle the issue of HIV and address same-sex relationships.

This is an issue that is close to my heart.

Researchers are optimistic about a new technique that could lead to a breakthrough in curing HIV.

Danish scientists are readying the human trials for a potentially life-saving new HIV treatment, and if it is deemed a success, it is hopeful 2013 could be the year there is a cure for the virus.

The possibly revolutionary technique involves releasing the HIV virus from ‘reservoirs’ it forms inside DNA, bringing it to the surface of the cells.

The US National Institute of Health has ended a trial of what had been believed to be a potential HIV vaccine after it failed to stop people contracting the virus and failed to reduce the viral load of those already infected with HIV.

The clinical trial of the HVTN 505 vaccine was begun in 2009 by the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) and involved 2,504 participants in 19 cities across the US but was stopped when more of those who were receiving the vaccine contracted HIV than those on placebos.

Transgender Vietnam Idol finalist Huong Giang is the latest celebrity to wear a dress made of 2,000 condoms for a safe sex campaign.

Giang told Tuoitre News Vietnam she is happy for her name to be associated with condom-use and wants to send the public, particularly young people, a message about safe sex.

A Canadian woman has said she believes her late son’s organs were rejected for donation because he was gay.

Nancy Campana says she was asked if her son Rocky, who was an organ donor, was gay after his death.

‘I was asked if he was a gay male and I said, “yes.” And I was asked if he was a sexually active gay male or if he had a partner and I said, “yes”,’ Campana told CBC News.