These are the fascinating pictures of miniature table sculptures molded around bonsai trees that take up to a painstaking 18 months to create. Japanese illustrator Takanori Aiba, 58, has built the intriguing scale models of windmills, lighthouses and even the Michelin Man.He delicately uses craft paper, plaster, acrylic resin, paint and plastic to create the host of sprawling miniature communities that wrap around the tiny trees.Following his work as an illustrator for Japanese fashion magazine POPYE he has spent the last nine years producing the detailed mini worlds.The creations take at least three months to construct with his Ice Cream Package Tower taking an astonishing 18 months work. Since 2003, he has made eight models, with 10 more planned over the next few years.
A woman was left fighting for her life after an eczema wound became infected and caused a deadly flesh-eating bug to ravish a hole in her arm .
This frozen lighthouse in Michigan could easily be mistaken for a still from the snow swept disaster movie The Day After Tomorrow .
INSIDE Britain's last Naval hospital where scurvy was cured looks like an NHS time capsule .
These are the faces of orphans suffering from the horrifying effects of chemical warfare .
A woman has shed half her body weight after undergoing a gastric sleeve op to shrink her stomach .
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BLOWING bubbles underwater, this adorable polar bear slides into his tank for a playful dip .
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A cricket perches on an unusual seat after crawling up the snout of a crocodile .
More weather chaos is heading our way, with ice and snow already hitting areas across Birmingham .
HOTSPOT MEDIA - BRAVE TOT ALLERGIC TO SUN: Leighton Brownrigg, 2 .
A coroner stunned an inquest into a honeymooner who died abroad today by asking her husband if he was involved in her drugs death .