How It Works - UK (2020-05)

Military laser identifies

you by your heartbeat

WordsbyMindyWeisberger

T

heUSmilitar ycouldsoonspotyouina

crowd– notbyyourfaceoryourgait,but

byyouruniqueheartbeatrhy thm.The

Pentagonrecentlydevelopedandtesteda laser

thatcanscananddistinguishthepitter-patter of

yourheartfromupto 200 metresaway.

Dubbed‘Jetson’,thenamerecallsthepopular

sci-ficartoonfamilytheJetsons,whoinhabiteda

worldfulloffuturisticgadgets.Butunlikethe

handyhouseholddev icesfromtheshow,the

newlasersystemwasbuiltforcombatting

terrorismandwascreatedbythePentagonatthe

requestoftheUSSpecialForces,MIT Technology

Review(MTR) reported.

Unlikesomet y pesofidentificationtechniques

thatrelyonbiometrics– uniqueanatomicalor

behav iouraltraits– thesubjectsofJetson’s

heartbeat-detectinginfraredlasercanbefar

awayfromthescanner.Thelasercanevensense

heartbeatsthroughclothing,accordingtoMTR.

Retinashapeandfingerprintshavelongbeen

recognisedasbiomarkersthatareindiv idually

unique and can be used for identification. Over

Heartbeatrhythms

areasuniqueas

fingerprints,and

laserscanidentify

their signature beats

http://www.howitworksdaily.com HowIt Works 013

thepastdecadetechnologieshaveemergedthat

candetectevenmorebiomarkers,suchasvein

patternsandbodyodour,aswellasheartbeats.

Jetsonreadsheartbeatsfroma distance

throughv ibrometr y,a contact-freetechnique

thatmeasuresthev ibrationofa surface.

A lgorithmsthentranslatepatternsina

heartbeatintoa unique cardiac signature,

accordingtoMTR.

However,thepresentversionofJetson

requires 30 secondstoconductscansandgather

heartbeatdata– a limitationthatsomewhat

hampersthetechnolog y’susefulnesswhen

peoplearemov ing,MTRreported.

Othert y pesoflong-rangebiometric

identification,suchasfacialrecognition,canbe

derailedif facesareevenpartiallyobscured.In

contrast,cardiacpatternsaredifficultforan

indiv idualtochangedeliberately.Experiments

demonstratedthatJetsoncanidentif y

indiv idualsw ith 95 percentaccurac y,said

StewardRemaly,a retiredUSA rmycolonel and a

counter-terrorism program manager.

© Getty

structuresasparasitesofthejellyfish.By
analysingthemoleculesandproteinsinthe
spheres,Ames’teamconfirmedthatthe
spherescamefromthejellyfishandwere
dispersedfromspoon-shaped pads on the
animals’arms.
Stingingcellscallednematocytescoatthe
outermostlayerofthebumpyspheres;when
touchedthesecellsleakvenomfromlong,
stringystructuresontheirsurfaces,stinging
unwarycreaturesthatrunintothem.In
additiontostingingnematocytes,cells
coveredinhairlikethreadscalledciliastud
thesurfaceofthespheres.Theseciliawavein
thewaterandactastinypropellersthatsend
thespheresspinningoffineverydirection.
Theteamnamedthefree-wheelingspheres
‘cassiosomes’,aftertheCassiopeiagenus.
Ifyouseeupside-downjellieswhileyou’re
swimming,itmaybebesttoadmirethe
squishycreaturesfroma distancetoavoid
floatingthroughtheir snotty clouds of
stinging spheres.

Mucusproducedbytheseupside-downjellyfish can

be seen floating above their frilly arms

TECH