Scientists Use Geographic Profiling to Reveal Banksy’s True Identity

Using a technique called “geographic profiling”—which is mostly used to catch serial criminals—scientists at Queen Mary University of London claim to have discovered the true identity of the infamous street artist Banksy. After building a geoprofile from the locations of 140 of Bansky’s suspected artworks, the team was able to pinpoint different “hot spots” all strongly linked to one individual: Robin Gunningham, the person previously …

The Existence of Sleep Munchies

Sleep deprivation has long-been linked with deteriorating both mental and physical wellbeing and now researchers have found that it also leads to overeating. More interesting still: they’ve discovered why. According to scientists at the University of Chicago, getting less than five hours of sleep per night increases an endocannabinoid in our bloodstream called 2-AG. Like its name might suggest, this endocannabinoid is also linked with …

The Darkest Pigment in the World

British artist Anish Kapoor is currently the only person in the world with the rights to use Vantablack—a pigment so dark, it traps 99.96% of incoming light. Vantablack was first created by British company NanoSystems and is made up of microscopic tubes that capture light and bounce it around internally—allowing just a fraction to escape. It was originally developed for military use, but Kapoor plans …