Living in the mountains bordering Burma and Thailand are the Kayan people, also known as Padaung. With a population of around 40,000 souls, this tribe boasts of an aberrant culture. What makes the tribe unique is the characteristic neck rings worn by the women of the tribe. Essentially these rings feature single brass coil encircling the neck. Initially, the coil is placed when the girl is five years old; as she grows, it is replaced by a longer coil. Gradually the length of the coil and weight associated with it presses the clavicle and the rib cage, which results in appearance of a long neck. However, in actuality the neck doesn’t extend.

It is quite interesting to look into the reason behind the change. The cause of “giraffe” women is that the ribs and the clavicle descend 45 degrees down from their normal point. Optimal weight of the coil is nearly 5kg. However, the roots of the tradition are still to be discovered. Different myths surround the fact. Some sources predict it as a protection from tiger-bite. There are others, who believe that the coils made Kayan women unattractive for slave traders. However, for women in the tribe it is their tribal identity and an assurance that they would marry within their tribe.

Few of us are aquatinted with the fact that it was originally the Renaissance stalwart - Leonardo da Vinci, who was the first to conceive the idea of vertical-flight machine. In reverence to the versatile genius, a 75-year-old Japanese, Gennai Yanagisawa, who has designed world’s smallest helicopter, would launch it from Vinci’s birthplace. Yanagisawa is all set for the demonstration flight of his one-man helicopter in the city of Vinci, near Florence, in Italy on May 25.

Confirmed by a Guinness World Records spokeswoman, the helicopter designed by Yanagisawa is the smallest with respect to rotor length (just 13 feet) and weight. In late 1990s, he generated the GEN H-4 model with footrest, handle bar, rotors, and chairs. This four-engine helicopter featured two rotators turning in opposite direction. It is capable of a 30-minute flight at a top-speed of 56 miles per hour.

Yanagisawa’s inspiration: da Vinci’s 1493 ornithopter

With a weight of 165 pound, Yanagisawa’s miniature helicopter can rise up to 165 yards. However, Yanagisawa would be flying 16.5 feet above the ground during his demo flight, so that people can watch him and enjoy the flight.

Existence of cavemen seems a weird thought for many who are still unprepared to believe that early men lived in caves. Well, History has its own evidences to unfurl the veracity.

One such interesting evidence of cavemen is available at Ghar il-Kbir (the Great Cave) in the island of Malta, south of Sicily. Although there is no corroboration about the date of the earliest settlers at Ghar il-Kbir, however its first allusion can be found in 1544, referred in Simone Camilleri de gar il-chibir.

German scholar Athanasius Kircher provides a vivid elaboration of the Ghar il-Kbir, in his Mundus Subterraneus. The Great Cave is an assemblage of eight smaller caves on two different levels, which encloses a massive natural cavern. Smaller caves were inhabited by the cavemen, with stonewalls at the entrance as well as inside the cave, which separated each quarter from the other. With the roof of the cavern collapsed. Interestingly the caves lack wall painting unlike other sites, however immaculate craftsmanship of the dwellers is clearly reflected in the crosses and holy pictures. Moreover, the especially designed loops in the shelves, ducts, ceiling and niches in the Ghar il-Kbir are remarkable pieces of work that deserve a unique status in antiquity.