Natsumi Hayashi is a Japanese artist known for her fixation with levitating. Two years, ago, the photographer began posting portraits online of herself floating in mid-air. The magical project – titled “Today's Levitation” – is the subject of a playful survey of her year-long obsession with flying.

For more than 2,000 years, women from the Baiga tribe in the highland district of Dindori, in central India’s Madhya Pradesh state, have been tattooed. Sumintra, 25, from Bona village, has the markings across her forehead, legs and arms. The women who work as tattoo artists are knowledgable about the different types of designs and pigments preferred by various tribes, and their meanings are passed to them by their mothers. The tattooing ‘season’ begins with the approach of winter. (Photo by Ronny Sen/WaterAid/The Guardian)

“Life-size humanoid robot BERTI (Bristol EluMotion Robotic Torso number 1 or RT-1) is a self contained, fully automated Robotic Torso, designed and built by Elumotion to provide a robotic platform based on human anatomy. RT-1 is a highly articulated manipulating platform and includes novel dexterous hands that allow emulation of human gesturing”. – Elumotion.com

Photo: BERTI the robot interacts with a Sony AIBO robot dog at The Science Museum's Antenna Gallery on February 17, 2009 in London. (Photo by Peter Macdiarmid/Getty Images)

Russia's Maria Sharapova carries the torch during the opening ceremony of the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, Friday, February 7, 2014. (Photo by Matt Dunham/Associated Press)

Keira Knightley attends the premiere for “A Dangerous Method” at The 55th BFI London Film Festival at The Odeon West End on October 24, 2011 in London, United Kingdom. (Photo by Dave Hogan/Getty Images)

Two Bunny Girls from the Playboy Club and two Penthouse Pets from the Penthouse Club prepare to take part in the annual Good Friday waiters and waitresses race in Battersea Festival Gardens, London, 28th March 1972. (Photo by Ian Showell/Keystone/Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

The northeastern United States sweltered this week in a scorching summer heat wave, complete with stagnant, sticky air and no winds for relief, forecasters said. Even in a summer already filled with stretches of very hot weather, this week will be stubbornly brutal, with no relief in sight until the weekend brings thunderstorms to the region, they said. "Plain and simple, this week may feel the worst of any week for this summer in the Northeast," said Accuweather.com meteorologist Alex Sosnowski. (Reuters)