Indian village with 250 sets of twins

Doctors are trying to unravel the mystery of an Indian village boasting 250 sets of twins born to just 2,000 families.

The phenomenon has seen almost six times as many twins born than the global average in the remote village of Kodinhi, in Kerala.

In 2008 alone 15 pairs of twins were born in the village out of 300 healthy deliveries and this year is expected to top that number.

In the last five years alone up to 60 pairs of twins have been born, with the rate of twins increasing year-on-year.

Local doctor and twin enthusiast Dr Krishnan Sribiju has been studying the medical marvel of Kodinhi for the past two years. Although 250 sets of twins have been officially registered in the village Dr Sribiju believes the real number to be far higher. "In my medical opinion there are around 300 to 350 twins within the village boundaries of Kodinhi," he said

According to villagers, the twin phenomenon only started occurring three generations ago. Dr Sribiju said: "To the best of my knowledge this medical marvel began somewhere between 60 to 70 years ago"

"Without access to detailed biochemical analysis equipment I cannot say for certain what the reason for the twinning is, but I feel that it is something to do with what the villagers eat and drink"

Buddhist temple built 1.5million recycled beer bottles

Built using more than a million beer bottles, this incredible temple in the north-east of Thailand is a novel way to recycle any empties. The resident Buddhist monks at the Wat Pa Maha Chedi Kaew complex encourage local authorities to deposit any used bottles at the temple which they then use to build new structures. Having already built the a temple and even shelters, the monks who live in the town of Khun Han really have got into the spirit of recycling.

Buddhist temple Glass houses: There are 20 buildings made of bottles in the complex
Sometimes known as Wat Lan Kuad, or Temple Of A Million Bottles, the temple uses the discarded bottles to construct everything from the crematorium to the toilets. Altogether there are about 1.5million recycled bottles in the temple, and the monks at there are intending to recycling even more. 'The more bottles we get, the more buildings we make,' says Abbot San Kataboonyo.Buddhist temple

Buddhist temple Room with an interior view: The visitors' toilets are a unique spectacle
'They kept this up until they had nearly one million recycled bottles ready to construct their pagodas and temple. 'Even though drinking is a sin in Buddhism, this still seems like a positive use of beer and lager bottles.' Representing the cleansing of the human mind, the beer-bottle-temple is now on an approved list of eco-friendly sightseeing tours in South-East Asia.