Identity Scans – With Ears?

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In spy movies, we always see top secret facilities unlock by scanning an agent’s eyeballs. But researchers in the United Kingdom are getting government funding to test two new methods: walk and ear shape. BBC reports:

Prof Mark Nixon believes that a person’s gait and ears are as unique as their fingerprints, adding that they are harder to fake than more traditional forms of identification.

He has built a biometric tunnel in his lab at the University of Southampton. It contains 12 cameras which measure a person’s gait as they walk along it and take pictures of their ears.

The tunnel is brightly coloured to optimise the contrast between the subject’s clothing and background, making it easier for the researchers to capture a 3D image as they walk.

Researchers say no two people so far have had the same walk or ear shape, although much more testing would need to be done.

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