According to AFP/Getty:

A full body scan is pictured on a computer screen at Manchester Airport in Manchester, north-west England, on October 13, 2009. The scanner works by bouncing x-rays off an individuals skin to produce an outline of the person's body which is then used to detect concealed, potentially dangerous objects. The image is then transmitted to a remote security officer who has no visual or verbal contact with the area where the machine is located.

Photo by PAUL ELLIS/AFP/Getty Images

The images above, illustrating the limits of the field where the Radio Frequency ID tag is able to interact with the reader, when the tag is held parallel and perpendicular to the reader. A group of researchers at Berg, including io9 contributor Matt Jones, decided to study the patterns an RFID reader makes, as a means of seeing RFID tags the way they "see" themselves.

There are four billion RFID tags in the world, and they'll soon outnumber people — they include your bus pass, the inventory tags embedded in your clothes, your work ID, and many other forms of unique identification that a reader can ping. As people move through cities, carrying these tags around, they create data trails, which linger like ghosts. As Berg's Jack Schultze puts it, referring to the Oyster public transit pass:

Having produced these visualisations, I now find myself mapping imaginary shapes to the radio enabled objects around me. I see the yellow Oyster readers with plumes of LED fluoro-green fungal blossoms hanging over them – and my Oyster card jumping between them, like a digital bee cross-pollenating with data as I travel the city.

[Berg London]

The volunteers are all participating in the Personal Genome Project, a Harvard study, which as we’ve mentioned before, is attempting to create a database of 100,000 human genomes. Although other services collect genomes as well, PGP has come to public attention for taking personal information in lieu of payment:

In exchange for the decoding of their DNA, participants agree to make it available to all — along with photographs, their disease histories, allergies, medications, ethnic backgrounds and a trove of other traits, called phenotypes, from food preferences to television viewing habits.

So what has prompted these volunteers to make so much of their personal lives publically available? Each possesses, in PGP head George Church’s estimation, the equivalent of at least a master’s degree in genetics, and many have an academic and/or financial interest in furthering genetic research:

• George Church, PhD, Professor of Genetics at Harvard Medical School, Professor of Health Sciences & Technology at Harvard and MIT, and head of PGP.
• Esther Dyson, technology entrepreneur and commentator, philanthropist, and future space tourist.
• Misha Angrist, PhD, Science Editor at the Duke University Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy and author of The Genome Revolution: DNA, Health and Society.
• Keith Batchelder, MD, founder and CEO of Genomic Healthcare Strategies.
• Rosalynn Gill, PhD, founder and Chief Science Officer of Sciona.
• John Halamka, MD, MS, Chief Information Officer of the CareGroup Health System and Chief Information Officer and Dean for Technology at Harvard Medical School.
• Stanley Lapidus, Chairman and CEO of Helicos BioSciences Corp.
• Kirk Maxey, MD, manages the Donor Sibling Registry and the Cayman Biomedical Research Institute.
• James Sherley, MD, PhD, Senior Scientist at the Boston Biomedical Research Institute.
• Steven Pinker, PhD, Johnstone Family Professor of Psychology at Harvard University.

While the “PGP 10” understand the benefits and consequences of posting this sort of information online, some fear that those who follow their lead won’t be so savvy:

“I’m concerned that this could make it seem easy and cool to put your information out there when there is still a lot of stigma associated with certain genetic traits,” said Kathy Hudson, director of the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University. “There will be new uses of this data that people can’t anticipate — and they can’t do anything to get it back.”

But some have already been lured in by PGP’s promise of a free genetic screening, which could tell them if they are predisposed toward certain diseases. In the latest issue of GQ, University of Illinois professor Richard Powers shares his own journey through PGP’s gene mapping process, including his decision to join the genetic database and what the geneticists found.

[Personal Genome Project]
Taking a Peek at the Experts’ Genetic Secrets [NY Times]
The Book of Me [GQ]

Westin's predictions:

• Typical citizen Roger M. Smith commutes to work on a turnpike. When he reaches the tollgate, “his license plate is automatically scanned by a television camera and his number is sent instantaneously to an on-line computer containing lists of wanted persons, stolen cars, and traffic-ticket violators.” If the scan registers a hit, “police stationed 100 yards along the turnpike will have the signal before Smith’s car reaches that position.”
• Meanwhile, back at the tollgate, Roger “places his right thumb in front of a scanning camera. At the same time, he recites into the unit’s microphone” his name and national I.D. number, “the initial performance of a ritual that will be repeated” throughout the day.
• That’s because voiceprint, thumbprint, and I.D. number will be used in lieu of cash. “Money has been eliminated except for pocket-change transactions.”
• One “byproduct of the cashless society is that every significant movement and transaction of Roger Smith’s life has produced a permanent record in the computer memory system. As he spends, uses and travels, he leaves an intransmutable and centralized documentary trail behind him.”
• In 1975, for every person in the U.S., there are “four master files”: educational records, employment history, financial history, and the all-important “national citizenship file. . . . a unified Federal-state-local dossier that contains all of Roger’s life history that is ‘of relevance’ to Government. In 1975, that is quite a broad category.”
• Westin went on to describe how new “laser memory system” technology meant that “a single 4800-foot reel of one-inch tape could contain about 20 double-spaced typed pages of data on every person in the United States—man, woman and child.”

Now who wouldn't want an ambulance dispatch when they have a heart attack, but automatically summoning the authorities whenever your vitals go haywire? There are plenty of reasons that could happen, and most of them are pretty personal. There's also a proposal on the table to have your pill dispenser automatically alert the hospital when you haven't been taking your meds...

This sounds like privacy clusterf—k waiting to happen, but to their credit the folks at OfCom at least appear aware of the issues:

If the "in-body network" recorded that the person had suddenly collapsed, it would send an alert, via a nearby base station at their home, to a surgery or hospital.

However, Ofcom also gave warning in its report, Tomorrow's Wireless World, that the impact of such technology on personal privacy would require more debate.

That 'more debate' is definitely going to need some clarification. Still, in principle it's hard to deny the awesomeness of getting Bluetooth installed in your body.

Oh, and before Dennis Quaid goes and loses it completely, we'd better console him — despite their uber-coolness, the sensors cannot replace you, Dennis. Only you have the power, as the pilot of your miniature vehicle designed for intrabody-exploration, to push a button and rearrange Martin Short or indeed any one else's face to look like The Cowboy's (Pictured).

Source: The Times Online via LiveScience

Image: Firstshowing.net

According to PhysOrg:

Lloyd explains how classical RAM works: "Lets say you have a gigabyte of RAM. That means you have one billion memory slots, each with an address. When you wan to access one, an address is given, let's say it is about 30 bits long. The first bit will throw two switches, the next will throw four, and so on until a billion switches are thrown at once."

"The conventional design is incredibly wasteful. And it is susceptible to noise and interference. We saw that this wasn't going to work at all in terms of quantum RAM," Lloyd continues. He and his colleagues set to work on their bucket brigade design.

"It is a sneakier way to access RAM," he explains. "In the same gigabyte RAM, we send the first bit of the address along a path. Once the first layer is accessed, the next bit comes, following the path of the first bit, until it reaches the second layer. The third bit then traces the two paths before it. In this way, all the bits of the address only interact with two switches."

There are problems with this set-up, however. Even though the experts at Texas Instruments agree that it would work, they point out that the energy saved using QRAM would not offset the larger energy problems associated with classical computing. Besides, Lloyd admits, the QRAM set-up is a little slower than the RAM. "You'd have to be willing to make that trade-off."

That brings Lloyd back to the idea of quantum Internet search. "If you had a quantum Internet, then this would be useful," he points out. "This offers a huge decrease in energy used and an increase in robustness." The other interesting aspect is the possibility of completely anonymous Internet search. Not even your service provider would know who you are or what you search for.

This system actually sounds a lot like the Tor Project, which allows users to surf the internet anonymously by setting up a chain of intermediate servers between your computer point A and your destination web page point B. The servers only communicate with the two others directly adjacent in the chain, so your traffic can never be traced all the way through.

That system works pretty well, but it'd be pretty cool if the entire internet were rebuilt to make sure Big Brother couldn't watch us. Plus, "Quantum Internet" just sounds awesome.

Source: PhysOrg

Church has good reasons for wanting piles of genomic data. As a Bloomberg article on the project says:

By matching genetic data from each person with his or her health history, Church would build a database that would link DNA variations and disease for scientists and drugmakers, the first step in deciding on treatments that can block the mutations or adjust how they work within the body.

Church also said he'll explore other human traits under genetic control. Participants will give facial and body measurements, tell researchers what time they get up in the morning, and detail other behaviors, he said.

Church has already partially sequenced genomes from 10 people, and the jump to 100,000 is under review by a Harvard ethics panel. The project ``only stops when we stop learning things,'' Church said.

We should note: there's no evidence of wrongdoing here, and Google has never explicitly said "we want to organize genetic information." True, they are major investors in the personal genomics company 23andMe, but we have every reason to believe that Big brother "don't be evil" Google will play it straight, keeping any information they have access to safe and anonymous.

But still you've got to wonder, does Google want direct access to DNA information? And if so, why?

Source: Bloomberg via SciGuy

Graphic: Personal Genome Project (Church's outfit)

The patented device uses "imaging radar," which bounces microwaves off your skeleton and obtains an image. The objective of the new system is to provide a fool-proof means of identifying people by their skeletons, which may be harder to spoof than fingerprints or other biometrics. The imaging system will be "compact and safe" for use on humans, the patent (#7317416) claims. Most of all, the system would provide "a means to identify individuals at a distance and/or without requiring direct contact."

Versatility is a big selling point of Leonard Flom and Ophir Almog's system:

The imaging radar may be at a security checkpoint (e.g., airport, secure facility, etc.). In other embodiments, the imaging radar is an active radar mounted on an aerial platform such as a satellite or an aircraft. The radar may also be mounted on a track and/or rail system (e.g., on the ground, a floor, and/or a roof) along which it can be moved rapidly.