The incredible 3D images that pop off the page... created with just a pencil and paper

By LEE MORAN

Busting through: An elephant seemingly charges its way through the paper

He's a modern day master making incredible 3D images that pop off the page - armed only with a pencil and a piece of paper.

At just 20-years-old, Chilean artist Fredo is quickly captivating the online art world with his series of graphite sketches.

He is now planning to take his art to the streets in a bid to spread his fanbase from the virtual world to the real one.


How it all began: Fredo's first picture of a butterfly, which led him to develop his technique

Fredo, whose real name is Wladimir Inostroza, learnt his startling technique purely by accident.

Drawing a butterfly whilst laid out on his bed, he realised the picture had been stretched out across the page.

On closer inspection he saw how the animal appeared to be floating, and that by chance he had used a method similar to one used by English 3D artist Julian Beever.


Scary: Spread across two pages, this series looks like a man is jumping off the paper


Out of the box: This picture looks like a puppet is being pulled out of the box


Down time: This man is waiting with an empty glass of wine


After adding in the shade with a set of charcoals, he took a photograph - and has never looked back.

With his own blog, thousands of fans on his Facebook page, and countless pages dedicated to his work, Fredo is now keen to expand on his talents and take his art to the streets of Santiago and beyond.


Picture frame: The photograph is handing Fredo a pencil in this image


Helping hand: Bionic and human joints combine in this picture


Pathway: This sketch looks like an intricate wood carving


Hard at work: A make believe image of Fredo pondering on his next project



source: dailymail

The aliens have landed: Amazing footage shows 'little green men walking about after UFO touchdown'... but why does it always happen in Siberia?

By SARAH GRAHAM



Proof at last? This screen grab shows an apparent UFO on the ground with what appears to be an unearthly being to its right and four other beings directly in front of the glowing craft



For an alien looking to explore Earth, the frozen wastes of Siberia may not be the most attractive of landing locations.



But if this film footage is to be believed, that's exactly where these 'little green men' chose to land their UFO.



The clip, filmed in the remote Irkutsk region of Siberia, appears to show a strange glowing craft and five aliens walking about in the snow.





They're here: In this still from the film clip, an object which appears to be disc-shaped with flashing lights hovers above the Siberia landscape





It shows what seems to be an alien about four feet tall, standing 15 feet away from its glowing craft, with four other similar figures nearby.



The short clip was taken two days after mysterious lights illuminated the Siberian night skies above Bayanday, also in Irkutsk.



'These two videos from two independent witnesses show that a UFO event of Roswell-sized proportions has taken place in Russia,' said UFO expert Mike Cohen.





Students Timur Hilall, 18, and Kirill Vlasov, 19, have admitted their 'find' of an alien in the Siberian woods was just a stunt





'Two days after these clips were taken the town of Bayanday reported a crash of a huge pink and blue glowing object.



'An enormous explosion was then heard over a wide area.'



He claimed police and rescue departments were flooded with phone calls from frightened residents.



'The military soon confirmed that it had not been doing any exercises in the area and therefore cannot be responsible for any reports of UFOs,' he added.



But he claims the authorities organised a cover-up of the UFO landing.



Officials declared the event classified and told journalists the area of impact would not be revealed, he said.



source :dailymail

He's all man now: A fuzzy-faced Chaz Bono shows off his beard for the first time as he runs errands round Los Angeles

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER



All man: Chaz Bono showed off his beard for the first time as he ran errands round Los Angeles



Two years after he started his gender reassignment process, Chaz Bono appears to have completely made the transition from female to male.



He was snapped sporting a new beard as he ran errands round Los Angeles yesterday.

The 42-year-old looked all man with his facial hair and short cropped hair as he filled up his car.





Inked: Chaz also showed off some large tattoos as he filled up his car





Dressed in shorts and a vest top, Chaz teamed his look with a chunky bracelet, designer watch and aviator sunglasses.



Appearing oblivious to the cameras, he waited for his car to fill before heading off on his busy day around the city.



He then went to the gym, visited his doctor and pottered about the city before heading home.





Partners: Chaz and girlfriend Jennifer Elia at the annual Gay & Lesbian Film Festival in LA last month





Chaz, the transgender son of singer Cher and her late husband Sonny Bono, was born female, but has spent the past few years slowly becoming male.



While growing up, he says he always felt uncomfortable and, after years of feeling out of place, he realised he was not Chastity but Chaz.





Transformation: Chaz was born Chastity, seen here aged 24 before the gender reassignment



Chaz has also released a book, Transition: The Story of How I Became a Man, released in May, chronicling his journey from female to male.



He currently lives in California with his girlfriend Jenny in a six-year relationship which transformed, along with him, from a lesbian relationship to a heterosexual one.



source: dailymail

Room with an intergalactic view: Russian firm reveals plans for space hotel

By ALLAN HALL



Futuristic: Orbital Technologies has revealed plans for a space hotel, which could be open by 2016



Russia may have lost the first space race to America - but it is now on course to become the Thomas Cook of the Milky Way with a hotel among the stars.



Design plans were unveiled in Moscow this week by Orbital Technologies, the Russian company seeking to get wealthy tourists boldy going where they have never gone before.



So far only 500 people have been into space. Aside from a few very rich men willing to pay for the privilege, they have all been trained astronauts and cosmonauts.







Space tourism: The hotel room pods will be fitted with binoculars and cameras so guests can enjoy the spectacular intergalactic views





Orbital's chief executive Sergei Kostenko said his orbiting hotel will be 'far more comfortable' than the International Space Station. With room for seven guests in four cabins, visitors to the 706 cubic feet pod will be able to see the wonders of space through huge windows.



Called the CSS (Commercial Space Station) it will be built 217 miles above the earth and accessed via Russian Soyuz rockets.



Available for use as an emergency bolthole for astronauts aboard the manned space station, visitors will also be able to choose beds that are either vertical or horizontal - due to the weightlessness of space. And its showers will be totally sealed to stop water going where it shouldn't.





Space age: The rooms will also act as an emergency bothole for astronauts at the manned space station





Mr Kostenko said: 'Our planned module inside will not remind you of the ISS. A hotel should be comfortable inside, and it will be possible to look at the Earth through large portholes.



'The hotel will be aimed at wealthy individuals and people working for private companies who want to do research in space.'



Food will be suited to individual preferences, and celebrity chefs could be employed to cook the meals before they were sent into space.



Mr Kostenko added that 'a number of agreements on partnership have already been signed' and further funding was being sought from private enterprises.





Drop-off point: Guests will be sent in to the Commercial Space Station via Russian Soyuz rockets





Exclusive: The hotel will be aimed at wealthy individuals and people working for private companies who want to do research in space





Opening time: Orbital Technologies said it hoped the hotel will be up and running in just five years time





A five day stay is rumoured to cost £100,000.



Orbital Technologies is affiliated with RSC Energia, the prime Russian contractor for the International Space Station and the operator of all of the long line of Soviet and Russian space stations.



Mr Kostenko added that his space station would be up and running for tourists, hopefully by 2016, long before Virgin boss Richard Branson builds his.







Price: The amount spent on the project has not been revealed, but a five-day stay will cost around £100,000



source: dailymail

The room in a box: A crate idea that cuts moving time and storage in half

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

There's a room in there? Casulo has everything needed to furnish a bedroom

Magicians are famous for their use of boxes, from sawing their lovely assistants in half to making themselves disappear.

But it may not take a magician or sorcery to furnish a room with just a box.

The Casulo is the brainchild of German designers Marcel Krings and Sebastian Mühlhäuser.



Thinking outside the box: You don't need tools to reassemble your furniture
The Casulo contains everything needed for a bedroom: the bed, a desk, shelves an armoire, and several units of storage.


The design duo came published the idea in 2007 in their dissertation at the Köln International School of Design in Cologne.

Calling it 'a new concept for mobile living,' they named their design Casulo, the Portuguese word for 'cocoon.'

It was designed with the goal easing the more frustrating phases of moving - time, transport and reassembling furniture.


Designers boast that it only takes seven minutes to assemble all the furniture


The developers promise that no tools are necessary for breaking down or reassembling the Casulo, making it as easy to move in as it is to move out..

From inside the box to a fully-furnished room, the job can be done in about seven minutes, as demonstrations show.


Coming together: The team behind Casulo says their design can save you time and money when you're moving into a new place

It can also store all of your bedroom furniture, in a fraction of the space.
Moving the Casulo, however, might be at least a two-person job, as each box weighs about 375 pounds.


All you need: Casulo comes with a bed, desk, shelves and storage space


But manufacturers are aiming to bring the weight down to 330 pounds.

The Casulo is not yet available in stores, but the team of Krings and Mühlhäuser is in talks to get it into production.


Casulo can store your bedroom furniture in a fraction of the space


And voila! In just seven minutes, your new bedroom is done



source: dailymail

The marble cathedral of Chile: Are these the world's most beautiful caves?

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER


Ancient: The caves have been formed by flowing water over thousands of years

Welcome to the Marble Cathedral - a natural wonder that could be the world's most beautiful cave network.

An azure temple created by nature, the walls of this network of water-filled marble caverns show just how magnificent the precious geography of our planet can be.

Visitors to the water-sculpted blue caverns see light reflected off the turquoise waters of South America's second largest freshwater lake, General Carrera in Patagonia, Chile.



Azure temple: Lake General Carrera in Patagonia, Chile, could be the world's most beautiful cave network


Light bounces into the caverns and strikes the carved marble walls, creating this enchanting lightshow.

The incredible set of pictures has been captured by landscape photographer and environmentalist, Linde Waidehofer, 67, from Colorado, USA.

'It is the water that formed the unique shapes of the marble walls,' explained Ms Waidehofer in her book on the caverns, Blue Light.

'Originally great ice-fields blocked the western end of the lake - today its glacier-fed waters drain into the Pacific Ocean.

'Geologists have a simple explanation for the breath-taking blue of this giant lake.
'They talk of finely ground glacial silt which makes the water an unearthly blue and crystal clear.

'These waters are magic.'



Photographer's dream: Photography students have travelled the world to learn about light in what could be the world's most astonishing classroom


To reach this remote place located in the far southern tip of Chile visitors must fly from the capital, Santiago, 800 miles to the next nearest large city, Coyhaique, and then drive on challenging dirt roads 200 miles south to the lake.

Yet photography students have travelled the world to learn from Ms Waidehofer about light in what could be the world's most astonishing classroom.



Beautiful: But the unspoilt majesty of Lake Carrera is under threat from development


Since falling in love with the Marble Cathedral during her first visit in 2003 she has decided to make it a major part of her life.

'I love it so much I've visited the marble caverns dozens of times,' she said. 'I don't know anything quite like them anywhere.

'I was so crazy about visiting that I decided to buy land, build a house and spend half the year here. My new home sits above two marble caves and even the floors are cut out of pure marble.

'I am living my dream in this wondrous place.' More information about Linde's book on the marble caverns,'Blue Light', can be found at www.westoneye.com/books

source: dailymail

Into the depths of the earth: Cave network in the heart of Vietnamese jungle is so large its end is yet to be found

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Intrepid journey: A caver stands in front of a huge rock formation as the light shines beneath a skylight in Hang Son Doong

These are the breathtaking images which capture the hidden depths of the world's biggest cave passage, which still has left cavers still searching for its end.

Hidden in the depths of the Vietnamese jungle lies The Hang Son Doong, part of a network of over 150 caves.

Discovered by British cavers in 2009, the cave passage in Phong Nha-Ke Bang National Park was originally thought to be a modest 150 metres long and 200 feet high.


Wonderful waterfalls: A waterfall explodes into Hang Son Doong in the hidden depths of the Vietnamese jungle, which is part of a network of over 150 caves


But these remarkable images - taken during two further expeditions of the caves - show the previously undiscovered depths of the magnificent cave passage, now the largest in the world.

At a mammoth 2.5 miles long, 330ft wide and almost 800ft high, Hang Son Doong also known as Mountain River Cave, is as high as 25 double decker buses.

And as shown in these amazing images taken by photographer Carsten Peter, there is even a jungle concealed deep inside the cave.

Carsten from Munich, Germany, took the images in 2010 when he joined British and German cavers during further expeditions of the site.


Going underground: Expedition members enter the cave, tunnelled out by the Rao Thuong River in Vietnam - the cave was discovered in 2009


The purpose of the expedition was to make a complete exploration of Hang Son Doong and create a photographic record of the cave.

Cartsen, 52 said he spent up to two weeks at a time deep inside the caves, where he slept with just a sleeping bag and spent his time exploring and photographing the secret underground world.

He said: ‘We discovered new parts of the cave, it's a huge area so to find them and access them is very difficult.

‘Photographing caves of this size is a challenge, it needs a lot of preparation.


Gigantic proportions: At a mammoth 2.5 miles long, 330ft wide and almost 800ft high, Hang Son Doong also known as Mountain River Cave, is as high as 25 double decker buses


‘But it's a great feeling to photograph a newly discovered cave, for me I see the cave for the first time when I see the photographs.

‘I love to explore, I have been in some great caves in my lifetime and this is one of the most magnificent.

‘I've been a photographer and explorer for the last 35 years and I've visited so many caves, I've lost count.

‘But this is by far one of the most unique and unusual caves I have ever seen.
‘To see a cave so large it has a forest inside is superb - it was overwhelming.’

source: dailymail

Are they Shoal-in monks? The taekwondo-performing divers who practice their martial art among the fishes

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

I make this look easy: A diver surrounded by sardines performs taekwondo during a performance for visitors at the Coex Aquarium in Seoul

There must be easier places to perform taekwondo - underwater and surrounded by sardines is perhaps not one of them.

Read more...

The really wild things making it big on the silver screen

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER


These snow monkeys are embracing at the edge of a hot spring, Jigokudani, Joshinetsu Kogen National Park, Japan. Only dominant females and their young have access to the hot water

A host of amazing animals from around the world are starring in a film opening in cinemas today.

Read more...

Home at last: Atlantis makes historic final landing as Nasa's 30-year shuttle programme comes to a glorious end

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Home, and job done: Commander Chris Ferguson, right, shakes hands with pilot Doug Hurley after Atlantis landed at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral. To their left are crew members Sandra Mangus and Rex Walheim

Atlantis made the perfect landing as dawn broke this morning, gliding down on to the tarmac at Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral to bring to an end 30 years of shuttle missions.

Read more...

Rise of the apes: Chimps really could shoot guns like they do in new film trailer

By DAILY MAIL REPORTER

Out for justice: Scientists claim chimps can be trained to wield weapons like this animal in a viral ad for new prequel Rise Of The Planet Of The Apes

One video clip shows an ape firing a machine gun at a group of African soldiers, while another sees a chimpanzee wielding a machete and hacking a carcass to pieces.

Read more...

The Milky Way so close you can almost taste it: Breath-taking snaps of galaxy seen with the naked eye

By LEE MORAN


Stunning: Photographer Alex Cherney has dedicated his life's work to capturing the night sky as it is rarely seen by humans by using just an ordinary digital camera

A star-gazer has come a little bit closer to the final frontier - after spending 18 months photographing the night sky.

With just an ordinary digital camera, Alex Cherney turned thousands of snaps into an incredible time-lapse video of the cosmos.

Using long exposures to allow more light in, these breath-taking pictures from the southern tip of Australia demonstrate how he captured the dramatic way the sky changes at night.

The pictures show planets, shooting stars, the Milky Way, the Moon, satellites and planes as well as rolling clouds, changing tides and passing ships on the horizon.



Starry eyed: This shot by Alex Cherney shows star trails above Elephant Rock on the Mornington Peninsula in South Victoria



Crystal clear: Alex Cherney takes advantage of the lack of light pollution on the southern tip of Australia to capture incredibly detailed pictures of the cosmos



Magnificent: Alex Cherney's photographs show planets, shooting stars, and even the Milky Way - features that are rarely seen from the polluted skies of the Northern hemisphere


He also took advantage of the lack of light pollution from a remote peninsula on the south coast of Australia to record the dazzling scenes rarely seen from the polluted skies of the Northern hemisphere.

Alex, an IT consultant, spent six separate nights over 18 months shooting the sky - each with a new or crescent moon to ensure minimum interference from light.

His spectacular images were then edited into a two-and-a-half minute video, which has now beaten 250 entrants to win the prestigious Starmus astro-photography competition.



Dedicated: It consultant Alex Cherney spent six separate nights over 18 months shooting the sky



Award winning: Alex Cherney's spectacular images were edited into a video the prestigious Starmus astro-photography competition.


The 36-year-old father-of-two from Melbourne said: 'It was my daughter who got me into astronomy. She came home from school with a project and asked if we could find aliens, so we went along to a local astronomy club.

'I looked through a telescope for the first time and there was no going back - I was hooked. Two years later I took my first photo of the night sky. It's amazing to me that you can record the stars and colours in the sky so clearly - even more than with the naked eye.

'So much of our sky is disappearing due to excessive light pollution. Most people in developed countries wouldn't see anything like this when they look up.



Incredible: This stunning photograph taken from the southern tip of Australia shows a meteorite near the Milky Way


'In Australia we're fortunate in that we don't have to go far to get away from the city lights, and I hope my pictures will help other people realise what's really out there. For this, I went out whenever there was a new moon and good weather - six nights over the course of 18 months.

'I set my camera up to take a sequence of pictures, with each exposure of 30 seconds. I took around 1,000 pictures a night, and then I put them together to demonstrate how the sky moves in relation to our position on Earth.

'I don't see it as a finished product - it's definitely a work in progress and I hope to carry it on as long as I'm able to. I hope my work will show people this incredible sky they may never normally see.'



Beautiful: This picture shows the Moon and the Milky Way

source: dailymail