Nose scanning techniques could sniff out criminals. The BBC states “that researchers at the University of Bath, UK, scanned noses in 3D and characterised them by tip, ridge profile and the nasion, or area between the eyes. They found 6 main nose types: Roman, Greek, Nubian, hawk, snub and turn-up. Since they are hard to conceal, the study says, noses would work well for identification in covert surveillance. The researchers say noses have been overlooked in the growing field of biometrics, studies into ways of identifying distinguishing traits in people.
“Noses are prominent facial features and yet their use as a biometric has been largely unexplored,” said the University of Bath’s Dr Adrian Evans. “Ears have been looked at in detail, eyes have been looked at in terms of iris recognition but the nose has been neglected.”
“There’s no magic biometric that solves all your problems. Irises are a powerful biometric but can be difficult to capture accurately and can be easily obscured by eyelids or glasses. People can easily cover up their ears, with their hair for example. “Of course you can have a broken nose or wear a false nose or have plastic surgery but to have nose surgery to change your identity is fairly drastic.”
But is it really that drastic? Cosmetic rhinoplastic procedures are the 4th most common surgical procedure in the U.S. with over 152,000 operations performed in 2008 alone, an increase of 0.4% on 2007 figures, according to statistics from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS). Read the article here.