Criminal Touch

Some day in the near future criminals might be convicted because they touched their victim.  No joke.  A new study released late last year revealed a breakthrough use for a current technology that has major potential to put bad guys in jail.  The technology is called vacuum metal deposition or VMD for short, and it has already been used to put some high profile criminals behind bars (see Richard Rogers "Last Call Killer").  However the new use for the technology is to find fingerprints on clothing.

VMD is performed in a two stage process.  The first stage involves vaporizing a small amount of gold onto a surface under high vacuum.  The gold penetrates into the surface by a small amount.  The next step is to vaporize a more significant amount of zinc and apply to the surface under high vacuum.  What remains is a visible print where the zinc deposits everywhere on the surface except on the ridges themselves (effectively creating a fingerprint negative).

Comment Crisis (solved)

It has been brought to my attention that currently my comment system is not working and thus you readers cannot post your thoughtful replies. Rest assured I am working on a fix and will edit this post to indicate when the system is operational.

Edit: Blog should be fully operational now with a new custom designed theme. Let me know what you think about it and if it is easy on the eyes/ not too distracting.

-Carlos

What is Biometrics?

Some of you readers (or would be readers) may be asking yourself "well... what exactly is Biometrics?" Great question! In order to get the most out of this blog you should be familiar with the definition of the central topic.

According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary Biometrics is:

“the measurement and analysis of unique physical or behavioral characteristics (as fingerprint or voice patterns) especially as a means of verifying personal identity.”

This term was first coined in 1902 and comes from the Greek word bios meaning life, and the Latin word metria meaning to measure.  So the word literally means to measure life. 

Hello World

Welcome to my very first blog on the very interesting topic of Biometrics.  Over the course of the next fifteen weeks I hope to keep you my (hopefully) loyal readers informed on the topic of Biometrics in an interesting, easy to digest way.  The posts will cover a broad range of technology emerging, proven and maybe even sometimes failed in the field of Biometrics, which has a broad application to numerous fields.  But first a little about me.

I am currently seeking a Bachelors in Chemical and Biochemical engineering with a minor in BELS (Biological Engineering & Life Sciences) at the Colorado School of Mines.  I have a passion for many things relating to biology and one of them is biometrics.

Last but definitely not least I want to encourage all of you to comment on my posts and ask any questions you may have relating to Biometrics (or anything in general) and I will try to respond to the best of my knowledge.  I also highly appreciate constructive criticism or just opinions in general as long as they are thought out and civil (no flaming).

Thanks and enjoy the blog.
-Carlos