A culebra is a traditional cigar formation made from three slender cigars braided together. Its name comes from the Spanish word for snake, a reference to its intertwined shape. The design is historically associated with Cuban factories, where its unusual appearance distinguished it from ordinary cigars.
Zangbeto are traditional guardians of the night in Benin, Togo and Nigeria, appearing as towering cones of brightly colored raffia. During ceremonies, they spin and move without any visible person inside. According to tradition, the costumes are inhabited not by performers but by spirits.
Chynara Madinkulova is a Kyrgyz contortionist who became the face of the World Nomad Games after performing archery upside down. Balancing on her hands, she draws and releases a bow using only her feet.
Hugo Bernatzik (1904–1953) was an Austrian ethnographer and photographer, renowned for his work documenting indigenous cultures in Southeast Asia and Oceania. Bernatzik studied anthropology and developed a keen interest in the lifestyles, rituals, and traditions of remote and often isolated communities. He is best known for his photographic work, which captured the everyday lives of indigenous peoples with an emphasis on their cultural practices, costumes, and environments. In the 1930s and 1940s, Bernatzik conducted extensive fieldwork in regions such as Papua New Guinea, New Guinea, and Borneo, where he collaborated with local communities and produced a substantial collection of photographs. His images provided valuable insights into the diversity and richness of these cultures, contributing to the academic understanding of anthropology and ethnography at the time.
The Windward Performance Perlan 2 is an experimental research glider that was designed by Greg Cole. On 2 September 2, 2018, it reached an altitude of 76,124 ft (23,203 m), surpassing the 73,737 ft (22,475 m) attained by Jerry Hoyt on April 17, 1989 in a Lockheed U-2.
Ida Lewis was once known as “the bravest woman in America.” Lewis served as an official lighthouse keeper for the U.S. Lighthouse Service (later absorbed into the Coast Guard) from 1879 until her death, at age 69, in 1911. As the keeper of Lime Rock Light Station off the coast of Newport, Rhode Island, Lewis performed work that was critical to national security: lighthouses, administered by the federal government, aided navigation and helped protect the nation’s coastlines. Lewis also performed personal acts of heroism by rescuing people from drowning in the turbulent, cold waters off Newport. According to Coast Guard records, Lewis saved the lives of 18 people, including several soldiers from nearby Fort Adams; unofficial accounts hold that she saved as many as 36. Until 2020, she was the only woman to receive the Coast Guard’s Gold Lifesaving Medal, the nation’s highest lifesaving decoration.
Iceberg towing, a concept proposed in the mid-20th century, involves harnessing massive icebergs from polar regions and towing them to regions facing water shortages. The idea aims to utilize the abundant freshwater reserves locked within icebergs to alleviate drought conditions and provide freshwater resources to areas in need. While theoretically promising, iceberg towing has faced numerous challenges and setbacks, leading to skepticism about its feasibility and effectiveness. Proponents of iceberg towing argue that it offers a potential solution to water scarcity issues by tapping into a vast and renewable freshwater source. The process involves identifying suitable icebergs, towing them using specialized vessels, and allowing them to melt gradually, releasing freshwater into the surrounding environment. However, the practical implementation of iceberg towing has proven to be far more complex and challenging than initially envisioned. One of the main challenges of iceberg towing is the sheer scale and weight of the icebergs involved, which can weigh millions of tons and span several kilometers in length. Towing such massive structures across vast stretches of open ocean requires significant investments in equipment, manpower, and infrastructure. Additionally, there are risks of accidents, collisions, and environmental damage associated with towing icebergs through sensitive marine ecosystems.
Spartathlon is a 246-kilometre (153 mi) ultramarathon race held annually in Greece since 1983, between Athens and Sparti, the modern town on the site of ancient Sparta. The Spartathlon is based on the run of Pheidippides, who ran from Athens to Sparta before the Battle of Marathon in a day and a half to seek aid against the Persians. Five Royal Air Force officers attempted the course in 1982 and the competition was started the next year. The race has 75 checkpoints where race officials disqualify runners who fail to meet time cutoffs or who are too tired to continue. In 2023, Camille Herron set a new women's course record of 22h 35min 31s, an improvement of 2h 12min 53s under the previous course record and the first woman under 24h.
The National Ignition Facility is a laser-based inertial confinement fusion research device. NIF's mission is to achieve fusion ignition with high energy gain. It achieved the first instance of scientific breakeven controlled fusion in an experiment on December 5, 2022, with an energy gain factor of 1.5] It supports nuclear weapon maintenance and design by studying the behavior of matter under the conditions found within nuclear explosions. NIF is the largest and most powerful ICF device built to date. The basic ICF concept is to squeeze a small amount of fuel to reach pressure and temperature necessary for fusion. NIF hosts the world's most energetic laser. The laser heats the outer layer of a small sphere. The energy is so intense that it causes the sphere to implode, squeezing the fuel inside.
Bermeja is a phantom islet lying off the north coast of the Yucatán peninsula according to several maps of the Gulf of Mexico from the 16th to the 20th centuries. Despite being located somewhat precisely in relation to neighboring islands by notable Spanish cartographers of the 16th century, the island was not found in a 1997 survey, nor in an extensive 2009 study conducted by the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) on behalf of the Mexican Chamber of Deputies. Interest in the island arose in late 2008, fueled by the fact that if such an island existed, it would be important for determining the boundaries for exploitation rights of oil in Hoyos de Dona in the Gulf of Mexico.