A set of mathematical processes developed for use in crime-fighting and disease-tracking indicates that one already-suspected individual may indeed be the infamous graffiti and installation artist known as Banksy.

The approach of “geographical profiling” is often used to track down repeat offenders, serial criminals whose strikes began to form patterns that can be productively analyzed by experts and run through models by mathematicians.

The findings help paint a picture of probable places of residence and areas of everyday operation, criminal or otherwise, sometimes narrowing the search to an area as small as a few hundred square feet.

Steven Le Comber, a biologist at the the University of London, learned of geographic profiling from Kim Rossmo, a criminologist at Texas State University, growing interested because of potential applications for disease vector studies. The two then began teaming up to find both pathogens and people.

In this case, their modeling shows clusters of activity in London and Bristol based around 140 data points, specifically: sites of known or alleged works by Banksy. Their findings, reported in the Journal of Spatial Science, suggest a handful of addresses in London (a pub, park and residence) all associated with one Robin Gunningham.

Already suspected of being Banksy, Gunningham may yet be a ruse or a plant, but science suggests the individual is very likely connected with the artist, one way or another. As to the question: who is Banksy? We may never really know for sure.

From the abstract: “The pseudonymous artist Banksy is one of the UK’s most successful contemporary artists, but his identity remains a mystery. Here, we use a Dirichlet process mixture (DPM) model of geographic profiling, a mathematical technique developed in criminology and finding increasing application within ecology and epidemiology, to analyse the spatial patterns of Banksy artworks in Bristol and London. The model takes as input the locations of these artworks, and calculates the probability of ‘offender’ residence across the study area. Our analysis highlights areas associated with one prominent candidate (e.g., his home), supporting his identification as Banksy.”

The Art Institute of Chicago has brought one of the most famous paintings of Vincent Van Gogh to life like never before: a complete replica realized in three dimensions and available as a rental to art fans in for a night of surrealistic immersion. The details, furniture and decor have been painstakingly drawn from the image, right down to crooked chairs, suspended paintings and heavily brush-stroked colors.

For rent on AirBNB, the project is part of a larger exhibition around Van Gogh’s various bedroom paintings made in the late 1880s, one of which was made during a stay at an asylum. The recreated room is located in the River North neighborhood of Chicago, next to one of the AIC’s campuses.

At just $10 a night, this place is likely to rent out entirely if it has not already. For whatever reason, the space also comes with a television and internet connection, though authentic experience-seekers may want to skip those, turn down the lights and just enjoy a night living inside of a classic work of art. The exhibit runs through early May and features over 30 of the master’s works.

More from the AIC: “Van Gogh’s life was short and nomadic. By the time he died, at the age of 37, he had lived in 37 separate residences across 24 cities, mostly as a boarder or a guest dependent on the hospitality of family or friends. In 1888, he finally moved into the only home he truly considered his own: his beloved ‘Yellow House’ in Arles.”

“Of his many bedrooms, Van Gogh immortalized only the one from the Yellow House—three times in fact. He first painted the room in 1888 shortly after his move to the Arles and then painted the composition twice more in 1889: once to record the first version that had been damaged when his home flooded and then again as a gift for his mother and sister.”

Pro skaters pull tricks on (and beyond) the pavement on this real-life hoverboard – at a distance, one might mistake their rides for normal skateboards, except for the steam from liquid nitrogen cooling superconductors to negative 320 degrees … oh, and that gap of air between the board and the ground below. Completing the futuristic scene, hovering drone cameras can be seen floating into and out of view, capturing wide-angle views and close-up shots of the gravity-defying skateboarders in action.

Developed by Lexus, getting the hang of this electromagnetic contraption is still not trivial, even for professionals, as many falls and bails illustrate in the video above. Considering the challenge of relearning a fundamentally difference set of balancing variables, though, these skaters do quite well for themselves, even managing a few rail slides and to coast across a body of water.

The device does, however, come with a significant catch: like other similar inventions, it relies on a metallic subsurface to function – the depiction of this scene as taking place a typical skateboard is alas somewhat misleading.

Out in the real world, there are limited environments where one might actually make this work. That being said, infrastructure changes, and should this take off as a recreational sport, new parks could be designed around these devices as well. At the very least, this one is a few steps past the Hendo in terms of technological compactness, robustness, stability and, of course, an outdoor demo to get people excited.

Access to natural daylight has long been one of the biggest limiting factors in building design – some solutions involve reflecting real daylight from the outdoors, but until now no solution has been able to mimic natural refraction processes and fool our minds into thinking we are surrounded by actual sunlight.

Developed by CoeLux in Italy, this new form of artificial light is able to dupe humans, cameras and computers alike using a thin coating of nanoparticules to simulate Rayleigh scattering, a natural process that takes place in Earth’s atmosphere causing diffuse sky radiation. Far beyond simply making lights brighter or bluer, this approach accurately replicates how miles of atmosphere transform light within just a few millimeters of surface space. Professor Paolo Di Trapani of Italy’s University of Insubria has so far spent over 10 years working on this system.

The source of illumination is an LED projector that emits white light in a spectrum that mimics rays of sunlight – meanwhile, a sophisticated optical system creates the sensation of the distance between the sky and the sun. Though the images shown here are all real and unedited, extensive 3D modeling preceded physical tests, prototypes, live demos and, finally, the finished product. “The objective included further developments of the existing Maxwell Render software functionality to include light scattering properties, light polarization effects, custom spectrum data (through spectrum curves or raw data) and light spectrum measurements, by including a virtual spectrophotometer,” explains the inventor.

The result is an effect that carries the same qualities we are used to experiencing outside, from color and saturation to light quality. The company also boasts that these photos are untouched and that their fake skylights in showrooms fool people in person just as effectively, appearing to have infinite depth just like one would expect looking up into the sky (James Turrell’s skyspaces and this work by Christo come to mind). The entire setup is incredibly thin and thus easy to set flush with a wall or ceiling, forming a convincing faux sunlight or window.

The potential applications are effectively endless, from lighting deep indoor spaces (such as subway tunnels) to replacing natural light in places where winters drag on and daylight hours are short. The company sees opportunities in areas like healthcare and elder care facilities where it may not be possible to put patients or residents near real windows for spatial or health reasons.

Currently, three lighting configurations are possible, simulating various broad regions – Mediterranean, Tropical and Nordic – featuring various balances of light, shade, hue and contrast. They are also working on additional offerings, including simulated daytime sequences (sunrise through sunset) and color variations to reflect different kinds of weather conditions.

Present iterations can also cost up to tens of thousands of dollars but the they are aiming to bring down the price in future versions as well as through scale of production. Ultimately, one could imagine the shapes of buildings changing radically around such an invention – the creators of this breakthrough have likened it to the elevator, which transformed the way we were able to build vertically in urban environments.

At a scale of 1/1,000, these beautiful little models bring famous buildings to life but can also be fitted into whole blocks or assembled to form micro-metropolises.

Car fanatics got Micromachines, but architecture enthusiasts have few options for collecting their favorite models – sure, there are great LEGO architecture sets, but those are more about the building process than the aesthetic of the finished product.

Available on Shapeways, IttyBlox features everything from stereotypical New York townhouses to world-renowned works of architecture, including a lovely rendition of the Guggenheim at a thousandth the size of the original. Illumination from below and different thicknesses of materials above combine to allow these neat buildings to light up at night as well.

Parks, highways and on/off ramps are also available to provide connective tissue between the core structures – sidewalks and streets are effectively built into the base plate pieces.

Where the real fun comes in, though, is in mixing and matching – using a modular base plate, you can remix blocks to your liking, picking favorite structures from London, New York or anywhere else and seeing how they might work when set side by side on the same street.