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Using a dental scanner on corals like a “magic wand”

<p>Dr Kate Quigley’s trip to the dentist might have revolutionised coral reef research.</p> <p>The intra-oral dental scanner her dentist was using turned out to be the perfect thing for scanning baby corals and learning critical information about their growth.</p> <p>“Baby corals and teeth are actually not too different. They’re both wet,” says Quigley, now a senior research scientist at the Minderoo Foundation.</p> <p>“Which might not seem like a big deal – but if you’re scanning something, that creates diffraction. […] Having tech that can work in a wet environment and handle a texture that’s wet, is actually really important.”</p> <p>There are a few other things that bring dental scanners and coral together, too.</p> <p>“The properties of teeth and baby coral skeletons are very similar. They’re calcium-based, slightly different, but similar enough that the resolution of the laser was tailored to coral skeletons, just by accident,” says Quigley.</p> <p>While conducting research at the Australian Institute of Marine Science (AIMS) and James Cook University, Quigley managed to get one of the tooth-scanning devices she’d seen at the dentist (the ITero Element 5D Flex), and test it on corals.</p> <p>Quigley has published a description of the new method in Methods in Ecology and Evolution.</p> <p>Monitoring coral growth is key to restoring and preserving it.</p> <p>“Growth and survival are really the currency of any monitoring program. It doesn’t matter what organism you’re looking at,” says Quigley.</p> <p>But it’s very difficult to monitor the growth of corals – because of their shape and size.</p> <p>“How most coral growth studies are done is really just taking 2D flat images. And that works really well when the coral is really young, say a month or two months, because they’re like little flat pancakes,” says Quigley.</p> <p>As they grow, corals develop very complex three-dimensional structures. Scanning these structures is time-consuming, and often destructive: the coral has to be killed in order to be scanned.</p> <p>The dental scanner takes quick, harmless scans and uses AI to combine the images into a 3D picture almost immediately.</p> <p>“Instead of taking all day and into the night, it takes two minutes,” says Quigley.</p> <p>It also provides better detail.</p> <p>“Baby corals start off really small. They’re almost invisible,” says Quigley.</p> <p>“Being able to measure those really fine scale differences, smaller than a millimetre, was also really important.”</p> <p>Quigley describes the scanner as “effectively a magic wand”.</p> <p>So far, the scanner’s been shown to work in a lab (at AIMS National Sea Simulator) and in the field – on a boat above the water.</p> <p>Unfortunately, it’s not waterproof enough to take diving. Yet.</p> <p>Quigley hopes it will become a regular tool used by coral researchers and restorers.</p> <p>“If we are thinking about scaling up reef restoration in the future we’re going to need a way to measure and monitor these individuals more effectively. It wouldn’t be sustainable if it’s one individual a day.”</p> <p>Quigley says that this discovery demonstrates the importance of thinking laterally.</p> <p>“In science I feel like there’s less and less room to just be creative anymore,” she says.</p> <p>“This has been a really interesting time for me – to dabble in dentistry and look at all the tech that’s available and may be useful in conservation.”</p> <p><strong>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/nature/coral-dental-scanner/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Ellen Phiddian.</strong></p> <p><em>Images: Shutterstock</em></p>

Travel Trouble

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Protect your online digital privacy by learning about “fingerprinting”

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The ad tech industry is always trying to find ways to monitor your digital activities as the more they know, the more money ends up in their pockets.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">This has led to the rise of “fingerprinting”, which has security researchers worried.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Although it sounds harmless, “fingerprinting” involves looking at the many characteristics of your mobile device or computer, such as the screen resolution or operating system.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">According to </span><em><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/03/technology/personaltech/fingerprinting-track-devices-what-to-do.html"><span style="font-weight: 400;">The New York Times</span></a></em><span style="font-weight: 400;">, as soon as they have enough details, they can use this information to pinpoint and follow your online habits, such as how you browse the web and use applications.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Once enough device characteristics are known, the theory goes that the data can be assembled into a profile that helps identify you the way a fingerprint would.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">“Get enough of those attributes together and it creates essentially a bar code,” said Peter Dolanjski, a product lead for Mozilla’s Firefox web browser, who is studying fingerprinting. “That bar code is absolutely uniquely identifiable.”</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The bad news? The technique happens invisibly in the background in apps and websites, which makes it harder to combat.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">As it’s a new way of discovering your web habits, the ways to protect yourself are limited as proper solutions are still in development.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">However, Apple users have protections in Safari for computers and mobile devices, which makes your device look the same to a website by sharing the bare minimum of information that the site needs to load properly.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">For Android and Windows users, the safety recommendation is to use the Firefox web browser, as Mozilla introduced fingerprint blocking in its browser this year. However, the feature can prevent some content from loading on certain websites.</span></p> <p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Unfortunately, if you’re a Google Chrome user, Google hasn't announced any defence system as of yet, but it has plans to release protections in the future. </span></p>

Technology

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Fingerprint and face scanners aren't as secure as we think they are

<p>Despite what every spy movie in the past 30 years would have you think, fingerprint and face scanners used to unlock your smartphone or other devices aren’t nearly as secure as they’re made out to be.</p> <p>While it’s not great if your password is made public in a data breach, at least you can easily change it. If the scan of your fingerprint or face – known as “biometric template data” – is revealed in the same way, you could be in real trouble. After all, you can’t get a new fingerprint or face.</p> <p>Your biometric template data are<span> </span><a href="https://www.gemalto.com/govt/inspired/biometrics">permanently and uniquely linked to you</a>. The exposure of that data to hackers could<span> </span><a href="https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=1387883">seriously compromise user privacy and the security of a biometric system</a>.</p> <p>Current techniques provide effective security from breaches, but advances in artificial intelligence (AI) are rendering these protections obsolete.</p> <p><strong>How biometric data could be breached</strong></p> <p>If a hacker wanted to access a system that was protected by a fingerprint or face scanner, there are a number of ways they could do it:</p> <ol> <li> <p>your fingerprint or face scan (template data) stored in the database could be replaced by a hacker to gain unauthorised access to a system</p> </li> <li> <p>a physical copy or spoof of your fingerprint or face could be created from the stored template data (with<span> </span><a href="http://vkansee.com/this-guy-unlocked-my-iphone-with-play-doh/">play doh</a>, for example) to gain unauthorised access to a system</p> </li> <li> <p>stolen template data could be reused to gain unauthorised access to a system</p> </li> <li> <p>stolen template data could be used by a hacker to unlawfully track an individual from one system to another.</p> </li> </ol> <p><strong>Biometric data needs urgent protection</strong></p> <p>Nowadays, biometric systems are increasingly used in our civil, commercial and national defence applications.</p> <p>Consumer devices equipped with biometric systems are found in everyday electronic devices like<span> </span><a href="http://www.m2sys.com/blog/biometric-resources/biometrics-on-smartphones/">smartphones</a>. MasterCard and Visa both offer<span> </span><a href="https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/20/mastercard-trials-biometric-bankcard-with-embedded-fingerprint-reader/">credit cards with embedded fingerprint scanners</a>. And wearable<span> </span><a href="https://singularityhub.com/2018/01/30/smart-homes-wont-just-automate-your-life-theyll-track-your-health-too/#sm.00001gaw7sovv9frwrel7ol9kfq1j">fitness devices</a><span> </span>are increasingly using biometrics to unlock smart cars and smart homes.</p> <p>So how can we protect raw template data? A range of encryption techniques have been proposed. These fall into<span> </span><a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2073-8994/11/2/141">two categories</a>: cancellable biometrics and biometric cryptosystems.</p> <p>In cancellable biometrics, complex mathematical functions are used to transform the original template data when your fingerprint or face is being scanned. This transformation is non-reversible, meaning there’s no risk of the transformed template data being turned back into your original fingerprint or face scan.</p> <p>In a case where the database holding the transformed template data is breached, the stored records can be deleted. Additionally, when you scan your fingerprint or face again, the scan will result in a new unique template even if you use the same finger or face.</p> <p>In biometric cryptosystems, the original template data are combined with a cryptographic key<span> </span><a href="https://dl.acm.org/citation.cfm?id=2905118">to generate a “black box”</a>. The cryptographic key is the “secret” and query data are the “key” to unlock the “black box” so that the secret can be retrieved. The cryptographic key is released upon successful authentication.</p> <p><strong>AI is making security harder</strong></p> <p>In recent years, new biometric systems that incorporate<span> </span><a href="https://www.sas.com/en_au/insights/analytics/what-is-artificial-intelligence.html">AI</a><span> </span>have really come to the forefront of consumer electronics. Think: smart cameras with built-in AI capability to recognise and track specific faces.</p> <p>But AI is a double-edged sword. While new developments, such as<span> </span><a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/nature14539">deep artificial neural networks</a>, have enhanced the performance of biometric systems, potential threats could arise from the integration of AI.</p> <p>For example, researchers at New York University created a tool called<span> </span><a href="https://www.wired.com/story/deepmasterprints-fake-fingerprints-machine-learning/">DeepMasterPrints</a>. It uses deep learning techniques to generate fake fingerprints that can unlock a large number of mobile devices. It’s similar to the way that a master key can unlock every door.</p> <p>Researchers have also demonstrated how deep artificial neural networks can be trained so that the original biometric inputs (such as the image of a person’s face)<span> </span><a href="https://arxiv.org/abs/1703.00832">can be obtained from the stored template data</a>.</p> <p><strong>New data protection techniques are needed</strong></p> <p>Thwarting these types of threats is one of the most pressing issues facing designers of secure AI-based biometric recognition systems.</p> <p>Existing encryption techniques designed for non AI-based biometric systems are incompatible with AI-based biometric systems. So new protection techniques are needed.</p> <p>Academic researchers and biometric scanner manufacturers should work together to secure users’ sensitive biometric template data, thus minimising the risk to users’ privacy and identity.</p> <p>In academic research, special focus should be put on two most important aspects: recognition accuracy and security. As this research falls within<span> </span><a href="https://www.industry.gov.au/data-and-publications/science-and-research-priorities">Australia’s science and research priority of cybersecurity</a>, both government and private sectors should provide more resources to the development of this emerging technology.</p> <p><em>Written by Wencheng Yang and Song Wang. Republished with permission of <a href="https://theconversation.com/fingerprint-and-face-scanners-arent-as-secure-as-we-think-they-are-112414">The Conversation</a>.</em></p>

Technology

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How to turn your smartphone into a portable scanner

<p><em><strong>Lisa Du is director of <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://readytechgo.com.au/">ReadyTechGo</a></span>, a service that helps people gain the confidence and skills to embrace modern technology. </strong></em></p> <p>Every time I show a client how to turn their device into a portable scanner, I get the same response: "Wow!” It's so much easier than using a physical scanner and saves you time.</p> <p>This app works for Android and Apple devices. For Apple users, I prefer the Scannable App, which is not available on Android. Now I’ve finally found an app that is as good for an Android device.</p> <p><strong>Adobe Scan App</strong></p> <p>Available on both Android and Apple devices, Adobe Scan is a free app which turns your device into a powerful portable scanner that recognises text automatically (OCR).</p> <p>Turn anything — receipts, notes, pictures, documents, business cards, whiteboards — into an Adobe PDF with content you can reuse.</p> <p>To get started on this app, you do need to create an Adobe ID.</p> <p>Some tips for using this app:</p> <ul> <li>Hold your device nice and steady on top of your document, receipt or card.</li> <li>The app will automatically detect the document and crop out anything surrounding it (eg. Tables or backgrounds around the document), leaving you with a nice "scan".</li> <li>There is auto enhance feature which strips out any darkness.</li> </ul> <p style="text-align: center;"><img width="264" height="" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/e785dd9ba906ed79fad48bd7e/images/37b2beea-50ed-4358-a610-48a6928dfbc0.png" class="mcnImage" style="max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 0px; line-height: 100%; outline: none; vertical-align: bottom; height: auto !important;"/><img width="264" height="" src="https://gallery.mailchimp.com/e785dd9ba906ed79fad48bd7e/images/70db54f3-43a5-474a-85dc-67499cffad6d.png" class="mcnImage" style="max-width: 100%; padding-bottom: 0px; line-height: 100%; outline: none; vertical-align: bottom; height: auto !important;"/></p> <p>The "scan" that I took (image on the left) was in low light, and by clicking the "Auto Colour" function, it brightened up my "scan".</p> <p>Try it out for yourself and let me know what you think of turning your Android device into a portable scanner!</p>

Technology

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Footage shows man climbing into airport X-ray scanner

<p>CCTV footage has captured the moment a traveller climbed into an X-ray scanner at a Chinese airport.</p> <p>Instead of putting his luggage through the scanner, it looks like the inexperienced traveller thought the security check was supposed to be for hand luggage, and the person carrying it.</p> <p>According to The Daily Mail, the footage shows the man climbing into the scanner after he was told to put his hand luggage through, as standard practice in every airport around the world.</p> <p>The clip shows a security guard pointing to the machine - but instead of putting his bag through, the man climbs in with bag still in hand.</p> <p>The confused worker tries to stop the man, but he happily carries on with his travels through the machine.</p> <p><em>First appeared on <a href="http://www.stuff.co.nz/" target="_blank"><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Stuff.co.nz</span>.</a></em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international-travel/2015/12/top-10-amazing-festivals/">10 most amazing festivals in the world</a></em></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international-travel/2015/12/shibuya-pedestrian-crossing-japan/">The busiest pedestrian crossing in the world</a></em></strong></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><strong><em><a href="http://www.oversixty.co.nz/travel/international-travel/2015/12/cheapest-places-to-feast-in-world/">The cheapest places to feast around the world</a></em></strong></span></p>

International Travel