Biometrics ’ new identity — measuring more physical and biological traits

T here is no need to remember complex combinations of random numbers and characters. From now on, you are the password: your fingerprint, face, iris, gait or odour—any of your potentially unique attributes—can theoretically be used to identify you. This is the idea behind biometrics, which was once confined to the realm of spy movies and high-security facilities, but is now increasingly common in everyday security checks at borders, for secure payments and logging in to mobile devices. Beyond security, though, biometrics technology is also driving and enabling other applications that include forensic science, data sharing over networks and reducing identification errors in hospitals.