In a world where nearly 6 million fingerprint records of government employees are stolen in one computer hack(侵入), and here millions of people are victims(受害者) of identity theft every year, the next step in Internet security may well be mapping your brain.
Researchers at Binghamton University, State University of New York are working on a biometric(生物特征识别的) system that records how your brain reacts to certain images. With a little more improvement, the scientists' brainchild could become the way you get into a deposit box(存款箱), your office or past scanners at the airport. It could replace the password for your online banking, your email or your social media accounts.
They started their project by measuring the brain waves of 30 subjects. The subjects were fitted with a cap that had 30 electrodes(电极) attached to it, and then shown various images and symbols—celebrity faces, words, pictures of food—on a computer screen in 200-millisecond bursts. The brain's reaction was recorded.
The idea is that every time a person needs to use a "password", he or she goes through the same process, and the results are matched with their firsttime reaction. If the "brainprint" breaks down—like what happened with the fingerprint records—then the system is merely reset by running another set of images and collecting a different set of brain waves. "Even if that was stolen, you could just cancel it and record one to something else", says professor Laszlo.
Laszlo and her team have shown that their system can be 100 percent accurate. So one of the more difficult parts of making the system practical has already been overcome. Now, they're spending much time recording accurate brainprints with as few as three electrodes, which could make recording in the future as easy as wearing a pair of special glasses. They're also working with cheaper materials and different methods to see if they can bring the cost down.
