Local Cops Use Military’s Iris Scanners (Wired) “In Iraq and Afghanistan, U.S. troops use handheld devices to take iris scans and thumb prints off of detainees and put them in vast databases to distinguish insurgents from civilians,” writes Wired “Danger Room” blogger Spencer Ackerman. “Now your local cops are getting in on the action. L-1 Identity Solutions, a four-year-old company, makes the Handheld Interagency Identity Detection System (HIIDE), a mobile device that digitally records someone’s iris, fingerprint and facial characteristics ‘to create a comprehensive database on the enrolled subject.’ The tool, which has earned high marks in Iraq and Afghanistan, is marketed to cops, as a way to avoid taking suspects to booking stations, ‘where waiting time for results could be anywhere from three hours to three days’ for a positive ID on warrant-jumpers.” View blog

Vein Image Implicates Khalid Shaikh Mohammed in Pearl Murder (Wired) “A team of journalists and students at Georgetown University, known as the Pearl Project,” reconstructed Daniel Pearl’s 2002 kidnapping and studied al-Qaeda’s murder video, writes Wired “Danger Room” blogger Spencer Ackerman. The video showed “the hand of the killer, who wore a mask,” and “a ‘bulging vein’ running across the hand.… vascular technology [which] is basically a process of vein-matching” indicates that the hand is that of Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who boasted of the killing but was doubted by prosecutors because none of the men already convicted of the murder implicated him. View blog

New Instrument Detects Biowar Agents and Diagnoses Infections (Univ. of New Mexico Daily Lobo) “A team of engineers and biologists from the [University of New Mexico] Health Sciences Center and Sandia Labs [has] created an instrument that will help detect biological warfare agents and expedite the diagnosis of infections,” reports the Lobo. “Biosensor lead inventor Richard Larson said national anthrax scares inspired him to create an instrument that aids response teams in identifying a suspicious substance. He said in 2005 the Defense Intelligence Agency granted the center funds to develop the idea, and researchers decided the instrument could have other uses.” View article

Reengineered Plants Detect Explosives, Pollution, and Toxic Chemicals (Denver Post) “A government-backed Colorado State University scientist”—June Medford—“has re-engineered plants so that they can detect explosives, air pollution and toxic chemicals,” reports the Post. “Plants fixed with custom-made proteins … signal the presence of potentially deadly vapors by turning from green to white. Military and Homeland Security research directors on Wednesday said they envision wide applications for the genetically modified plants positioned in buildings, war zones and cities where terrorists could set up covert bombmaking factories.” View article

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