BRAVE MAG

A statue rumored to be aBanksy art pieceappeared in central London this week. Now, the artist is confirming it was his idea.

The British graffiti artist's representatives told USA TODAY the elusive artist is behind the work. Banksy's signature was seen at the bottom of the statue when it was unveiled in the early hours of Wednesday, April 29.

The statue depicts a man striding atop a pillar, holding a large, flowing flag that covers his face. The artwork is positioned on a traffic island in Pall Mall, in Westminster, one of London's most prestigious areas.

The artist wanted to display the artwork there because he said, "There was a bit of a gap," according to representatives.

See the Banksy flag statue

The statue is near other monuments in the area, including the Crimean War Memorial, and statues of Florence Nightingale, Edward VII and King George III.

Who is Banksy?

Banksy has been famous for displaying or erecting artwork in public spaces. Many of his pieces are street artworks that have popped up around the United Kingdom.

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While his identity is widely unknown,Reutersrecently published an investigation determining that the artist is Robin Gunningham, a Bristol man.

According toprevious USA TODAY reporting, Banksy first became famous in the early 1990s, when his artwork appeared spray-painted on walls and trains.

His work often serves as commentary on polarizing issues, including migration, militarism, politics and capitalism. In 2018, the artist's painting "Girl with Balloon” famously shredded itself at auction after being sold for $1.4 million.

Banksy makes little from public sales of his works at auction houses, according to previousUSA TODAY reporting. Still, he's considered a multimillionaire from the discreet sales of original works to private collectors.

Michelle Del Rey is a trending news reporter at USA TODAY. Reach her at mdelrey@usatoday.com.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:Banksy behind new flag statue in London. Why the artist put it there

Balance, a critical motor skill combining strength, agility and flexibility, is a strong indicator oflongevityandhow well you’re aging.

What if you could improve your balance while lying down?

Researchers at the Tokyo University of Agriculture and Technology found that a daily series of toe scrunches and core exercises performed lying on your back — called the supine position — helped with balance and agility. The findings were published Wednesday in the journalPLOS One.

Rock, paper, scissors for your toes

In two experiments, 36 men and three women, in their early 20s on average, completed a series of foursupine exercisesfor about 10 minutes daily for two weeks.

For the first two exercises, people placed both feet flat on the floor, with the knees raised. One exercise involved lightly pressing down on the abdomen in specified areas surrounding the belly button, while the other required contracting the hips in a bridge motion.

In the third exercise, people put one foot flat on the floor with the knee raised, leaving the other leg extended. Next, they slid both heels forward, slowly moving the bent leg back down.

The fourth exercise imitated a game of “rock, paper, scissors” with the toes.

Participants alternately clenched their toes (rock), spread them apart (paper) and crossed the big toe over the others (scissors).

How balance changes were measured

The first experiment looked at fitness and balance.

Seventeen participants completed physical fitness assessments, including side-stepping, a 50-meter run and sitting trunk flexion, where they sat with their legs out in front of them and reached forward without bending their knees. Researchers also used a tool to measure how much participants swayed when standing naturally, as well as with their feet together.

Participants were part of both the control and exercise groups. Meaning, a person assigned to the exercise group would complete the supine exercises, wait a two-week washout period and then complete the experiment again in the control group, and vice versa.

At the end of the trial, the exercise group showed greater improvements in the side-step and sitting trunk flexion tests than the control group. They also had greater reductions in how much they swayed while standing.

In the second experiment, 22 participants completed a version of the side-stepping test designed to capture the acceleration of different body segments.

After completing the supine exercises for two weeks, they showed improved stability of the head and chest.

Study co-author Yoriko Atomi, 81, who recently moved her lab to the Center for Neuroscience and Biomedical Engineering at the University of Electro-Communications in Tokyo, said in an email that performing these exercises while lying down allows people to focus on the movements without the gravitational pressure of maintaining postural control.

From an evolutionary standpoint, humans are at a disadvantage, Atomi said. They have the unique challenge of balancing about half their body weight in the torso, even though their feet take up a relatively small surface area.

“Since we evolved to move in a bipedal stance despite having a four-limbed body design, it is better to assume that neither our standing posture nor our movements are performed correctly,” she said.

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Atomi noted that while supine movements are common in physical therapy andexercise programssuch as Pilates, there’s been little scientific evidence of their efficacy. She said the study results, along with her own rehabilitation experience, highlight the interplay between targeted musculoskeletal training and overall balance.

“Although each exercise is performed separately, since the body is interconnected, the four exercises gradually coordinate to form a circuit involving the entire body,” she said.

Atomi said completing similar exercises “saved” her in her 70s, when she was experiencing lower back pain and knee osteoarthritis that madewalkingdifficult.

She turned to her son and colleague Tomoaki Atomi, a physical therapist who studies posture and motor control. He prescribed her a set of supine rehabilitative exercises to be done for about 10 minutes daily. Two months later, she couldn’t believe the results.

“I have been able to move more energetically and comfortably than ever before over the past 10 years,” Atomi said. “I’ve even been able to jog again.”

Atomi was inspired to not only continue the routine every morning but also use her background in biomechanics to learn more about the benefits of these simple movements.

The result was a family affair; she conducted this latest research with Tomoaki as well as his wife, Aya Atomi, also a physical therapist.

“Although I am an expert in exercise adaptation science, this was the first time I had ever considered the supine position from a scientific perspective,” Yoriko Atomi said.

Why is balance important for healthy aging?

Carmen Swain, the director of the health and exercise science program at the Ohio State University, said that as people age, they naturally lose muscle mass, particularly if they’re not doing any strength training.

With age also come changes in vision,neuromuscular responseand proprioception, or spatial awareness of the body, all of which impact balance. In addition,research has shownthat balance training mayimprove memory.

Strength trainingis the best way to improve balance for people of all ages, Swain said. However, she sees value in the supine exercises for people who may be unable to complete more complexbalance training, such as standing on one leg while lifting weights.

“I don’t think you could say that this is going to be the end-all, be-all in improving balance,” said Swain, who wasn’t involved in the study. “It might be a small piece, and sometimes that’s where you need to start.”

The study’s biggest limitation is its focus on healthy young adults, said Glenn Gaesser, a professor of exercise physiology at Arizona State University who wasn’t involved in the research.

“These individuals don’t have balance issues, generally,” he said. “It is a very important issue for older individuals, because poor balance can increase risk of falls, and falls increase risk of bone fractures, and bone fractures increase the risk of hospitalization and the mortality rate for older individuals.”

Annually, more than 14 million U.S. adults 65 and older report falling, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. About 9 million of those falls result in injury.

As an octogenarian herself, Atomi acknowledged the need to replicate the research among an older, larger population. She said her team has already completed a small pilot study with people 75 and older that they hope to publish.

In the meantime, Atomi encourages people to try the supine core and toe-scrunching exercises at home.

“Skeletal muscle is the one tissue in the body we can voluntarily change, and our cells never lose their capacity to adapt,” she said. “This means it is never too late to start.”

Billie Eilish addressed rumors that she and brother Finneas O'Connell, her collaborator, have had a falling-out.

Key Points

• The "Wildflower" singer says she and O'Connell are siblings, and they fight.

• O'Connell was absent from his sister's most recent tour.

Billie Eilishknows there are rumors about why her brother and longtime collaborator, Finneas O'Connell, isn't with her as much these days.

"I heard somebody say, 'Did you guys hear Finneas and Billie had a falling-out?'" the singer recalls in an interview published Tuesday inElle.

The "What Was I Made For?" singer's response was clear: "Finneas and I have never and will never have a falling-out, ever in our lives. We'll get in the biggest f---ing fight you've ever heard of in your life…and five minutes later, we're back, laughing and making music. It's sibling s---. There's nothing else in the world like sibling relationships."

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In fact, Eilish said, much of her work depends on her brother.

"If I never saw Finneas at all, I might literally never make a song again," she said of her older brother. "But how do we move on and have separate lives?"

They gave that a go with Eilish's latest tour, in promotion of her 2024 albumHit Me Hard and Soft, which he contributed to as usual.

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"It was a few years in the making," Eilish told the magazine. "We got so busy that we would only see each other right before going onstage. Finneas and Andrew [her touring drummer], who were the only band members I had back in the day, performed on some sort of platform that was hard to leave. Finneas was stuck in a tower—like Rapunzel! He never said it, but I was feeling like, 'You have more to be doing than being my band member in the back.'"

In the meantime, O'Connell was able to release solo music that he promoted with his own tour.

Like his sister, he's already quite accomplished, with 11 Grammys to his name, compared to her 10.

"I think that it's the closest I am with Billie to like total trust of anyone," he toldCBS Newsin January 2024. "And total vulnerability. I'm sure there's something that she would be embarrassed to say in front of me, but not much."

He acknowledged that he had missed her when she was gone, and he even popped up at a few dates.

"It's basically true that I don’t like touring, but I love the show part of it," he toldElle. "And I love being around Billie. This past year, when she would be on tour for months, I missed her a lot."

A scene from Eilish's new concert film,Billie Eilish – Hit Me Hard and Soft: The Tour (Live in 3D), shows her reading a note that O'Connell sent her on the road. The James Cameron-directed film arrives in theaters May 8.

Read the original article onEntertainment Weekly