Free Republic

Face recognition technology that could revolutionise security systems worldwide has been developed by computer scientists at Sheffield Hallam University. The new specialist software can produce an exact 3D image of a face within 40 milliseconds. Similar systems that have been trialled have proved unworkable because of the time it takes to construct a picture and an inaccurate result. The ground-breaking invention, by experts in the University’s Materials and Engineering Research Institute (MERI) was tested by Home Secretary Charles Clarke on a recent visit to Sheffield. It could be used for tighter security in airports, banks, and government buildings and ID...

WASHINGTON, Feb. 8, 2006 – In the old Star Wars movie "The Empire Strikes Back," Luke Skywalker gets a new, fully functional right hand after Darth Vader chops his off with a light saber. Today, thanks to work under way through the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, servicemembers who have lost limbs in the line of duty could experience something almost as revolutionary in the years ahead. Among the cutting-edge technology DARPA is developing is a highly advanced, mechanical arm that works and looks just like a human one, Jan Walker, a DARPA spokesperson, told the American Forces Press Service....