Biometrics

Imagine never having to remember a password or enter a PIN number again. Your phone, computer, bank account and even your own front door will all be able to recognize you through the use of biometrics. Your fingerprints, ears, voice, face, iris, retina, gait and even your distinct odor can already be used to identify you.

As convenient as it sounds - since you will always have your body with you - some are concerned about the potential for invasion of privacy and also the possibility of security breaches.

Stock Images About Biometrics

If a hacker steals your password, you can create a new one. But, if the computer storing your biometric data is hacked you cannot get a new ear, iris or voice. And since biometric security opens many doors, literally and figuratively, hackers may be able to gain much more than with a single password.

Privacy advocates warn this may be the beginning of Big Brother watching you, and not just online. Facial recognition software can pick an individual out of a football stadium full of people. Security cameras are already prevalent in public places, making it possible for you to be followed by the police, the government,  companies, and hackers. This can happen as you walk down the street, shop, bike, or do anything where security cameras are located.

You may say, "I'm not going to hand over my biometric data to anyone." Well, the truth is you may already have done so.

Touch ID on cell phones and voice-controlled assistants such as Alexa or Echo collect your fingerprints and your voice print. Social media sites such as Facebook already use facial recognition software to label photos of you and your friends. Even your iris can now be scanned from up to 30 feet away without you being aware.

Biometric Coffee Mugs, Beach Towels and more

In short, it looks like biometrics is here to stay as a method of identification and for use in security. One can only hope that those with the data do the best they can to keep your personal face, ear, eye, and other biometric information safe from hackers.  

• theatlantic.com
• engadget.com
• wired.com
• scientificamerican.com

Invincible Water Bears

Although they can survive unprotected in outer space, these resilient creatures are terrestrial living beings, not aliens as some have claimed. They are found on every continent on planet Earth and they love the water, yet can be found in the desert as well.

First discovered by pastor and zoologist Johann Goeze in 1773 and later named Tardigrada (Italian for "slow stepper"), these creatures still fascinate scientists today.

Images & Video of Tardigrades

It's unlikely that Goeze knew how amazing tardigrades (also called water bears) really are. They can withstand a high temperature of 300 degrees and a low of -458 degrees F. They have also survived outer space, radiation, and six times the pressure of the deep sea.

How do they do this? When faced with adverse conditions they can desiccate - dry up - themselves. When in this state they are referred to as 'tuns' and resemble a little ball. It is a death-like state called cryptobiosis. Water bears usually only live a few weeks or months but can be revived from a state of cryptobiosis after 30 years.

Water bears need at least a small film of water to be in their normal mobile state. They suck water from the moss and plant matter they usually live in. They prefer living in the moist sediment in the bottom of lakes but have been found in arid regions as well. As long as there is just a little water, they can thrive.

Cute Water Bear Throw Pillows

Even though human beings might not survive a catastrophe such as a supernova or asteroids, it seems that water bears will be around many millennia after we are gone.

Alina Bradford, Tardigrade Facts, livescience.com
William Herkewitz,  Secrets of the Water Bear,  popularmechanics.com
wikipedia.com

Volcanic Eruptions: Kilauea and Beyond

 

A wall of lava flows down Hoʻokāpu Street on Hawaii's Big Island, engulfing cars and setting trees ablaze – one of many scenes of havoc following the eruption of Kilauea in May.

Deriving their name from the Roman god of fire, Vulcan, volcanoes live up to their reputation as one of nature's most fearsome phenomena. Literally openings in the earth's surface, volcanoes exist throughout the world, including underwater. 

Images & Video of Kilauea and Other Volcanos

Volcanoes usually occur where tectonic plates separate but they can also arise from hot spots in the earth's crust, such as in the Hawaiian Islands and Yellowstone National Park. When pressure builds up and travels to the earth's surface, an eruption occurs that can last between one hour and hundreds of years. The Island of Stromboli's volcano has been continuously active for over 2,000 years.

In addition to lava, ash and fire, eruptions are often accompanied by earthquakes, mudslides, and acid rain, causing massive damage to the surrounding environment. The 1980 eruption of Mount St. Helens destroyed 200 houses, 15 miles of highway and 4 billion board feet of timber.

Volcanic eruptions are not solely destructive, however. The lava they produce can clear away brush and treat the soil, making the land highly fertile for new plants and agriculture.

Custom Gifts for Science Geeks

• nationalgeographic.com
• bbc.com

Deep Sea Exploration

A Telescope Fish has eyes that can track bioluminescent prey.

The world can feel like a small, crowded place, but actually, two-thirds of the planet remains relatively unexplored. Over 1,500 people have climbed Mount Everest, but only THREE have gone to the deepest part of the ocean.

Up until recently, we haven't had the technology to fully study and explore the oceans, but the race is on. Why is this so urgent? Over 70% of the oxygen we breathe comes from marine life such as plankton. Due to increased CO2 (carbon dioxide), pollution and other manmade changes to the environment, plankton may end up on our endangered species list one day.

Images of Undersea Exploration and Creatures

To protect plankton, marine life and the oceans overall, we first need to understand what is normal, how things are changing, how fast and why. We know that the oceans dissolve much of the excess CO2 that humans create. But this makes oceans more acidic, damaging and killing coral and plankton, and adversely affecting much other marine life.

The biggest challenge in deep-sea exploration has always been the increased pressure the deeper one goes. Most divers comfortably go no further than 130 feet before succumbing to the eventually fatal pressure. The deepest part of the ocean, an area called Challenger Deep near Guam, is about 36,200 feet deep.

Scary Ocean Creature Coffee Mugs

The first submarine was built in 1620 by Dutch inventor Cornelius Drebbel. It traveled along the banks of the Thames River in London, diving to a depth of 15 feet.  In 2012, filmmaker James Cameron descended to a depth of 35,756 ft in the DSV Deepsea Challenger, a deep-diving submersible. He was only able to stay at the bottom about an hour, before having to resurface. This submersible is as long as a limousine but can carry only one person in it's 43" diameter pilot sphere.

New unmanned robots called mini autonomous underwater vehicles are being used more often. Many of them can be released at once and send back data over a period of time.

One of the most fascinating and surprising things scientists are discovering is the prevalence of biofluorescent creatures. Even tetrapods, such as sea turtles have been found to glow in the dark of the ocean. Unlike bioluminescent creatures, which make their own light through a chemical reaction, biofluorescent creatures glow when certain wavelengths of light shine on them.

Scientists have discovered over 250 species of fish that use biofluorescence and believe this may be a method of communication in the deep ocean.
As we learn more about the oceans, hopefully, we can learn how to save them and also ourselves from extinction.

UnSeen Oceans Exhibit, American Museum of Natural History
nationalgeographic.org
deepseachallenge.com
Deepsea_Challenger, wikipedia.org