The future of facial recognition: 7 fascinating facts

Technology TEDTalks What’s on the screen in this photo? All the information that can be gleaned just from an image of someone’s face. Alessandro Acquisti speaks at TEDGlobal 2013. Photo: James Duncan Davidson

Alessandro Acquisti thinks we are about to have an Adam and Eve moment, where all of a sudden we realize that we aren’t wearing any clothes. Up until now, we have — for the most part — willingly offered up our personal information online without thinking too much about it. Alessandro Acquisti: Why privacy mattersBut as Acquisti puts it in today’s talk, “any personal information can become sensitive information.”

To illustrate what he means, he focuses our attention on facial recognition software and a study he conducted in 2010, when about 2.5 billion photos were uploaded to Facebook in a single month, many of them tagged. For the study, Acquisti and his fellow researchers snapped photos of students on a college campus and found that more than 30% of them were identifiable by off-the-shelf facial recognition software. From there, using data mining algorithms, the researchers were also able to identify the first five digits of many of these students’ Social Security numbers.

To hear about Acquisti’s latest research — which examines how employers judge the kind of information they find about potential employees online (hint: it’s not good) — watch this talk. Then below, take a closer look at the latest developments in facial recognition to see where this technology is headed.

Identifiable online daters. An important part of online dating is, of course, anonymity. You make up a screen name because you want an element of surprise when you meet someone — and because you don’t want creepers showing up at your office uninvited. In 2010, Acquisti published the study, “Privacy in the Age of Augmented Reality.” He and his fellow researchers analyzed 6,000 online profiles on a dating site in the same US city. Using four cloud computing cores and the facial recognition software PittPatt, they were able to identify 1 in 10 of these anonymous daters. And remember, this technology has improved three-fold since then.
.Better tools for law enforcement. After the Boston Marathon bombing, the Boston police commissioner said that facial recognition software had not helped them identify Dzhokhar and Tamerlan Tsarnaev, despite the fact that the two were in public records databases—and photographed at the scene. Only, those images were taken from far away, the brothers were wearing sunglasses and caps, and many shots of them were in profile — all things that make facial recognition difficult. Experts say that technology can overcome these difficulties. In an interview with Salon.com, Acquisti said that the increasing resolution of photos will help (hello, gigapixel!), as will the improved computational capabilities of computers and the ever-expanding mountain of data available from social networks. In a fascinating article via Yahoo, Paul Schuepp of the company Animetrics shares a more specific advance: software that turns 2D images into a simulated 3D model of a person’s face. In a single second, it can turn an unidentifiable partial snapshot into a very identifiable headshot. He claims the software can boost identification rates from 35 percent to 85 percent.
.Full body recognition? Allyson Rice of the University of Texas at Dallas has an idea for how facial recognition software could become even more accurate for law enforcement purposes — by becoming body recognition software. In a study published this month in Psychological Science, Rice and her fellow researchers asked college students to discern whether two photos — which had stumped facial recognition software — were indeed of the same person. They used eye-tracking equipment to discern how the participants were making the call. In the end, they found that students were far more accurate in their answers when the face and body of the subject was shown. And while participants reported judging based on facial features, their eyes were spending more time examining body build, stance, and other body features. “Psychologists and computer scientists have concentrated almost exclusively on the role of the face in person recognition,” Rice tells The Telegraph. “But our results show that the body can also provide important and useful identity information for person recognition.”
.A face scan for your phone. “Face Unlock” is a feature that allows you to unlock Android smartphones using your “faceprint,” i.e. a map of the unique structure of your face. This is just the beginning of face-as-security measure. In June, according to eWeek.com, Google patented a technology that would turn goofy facial expressions — a wink, a scrunched nose, a smile, a stuck-out tongue — into a code to unlock devices. The hope: that this would be harder to spoof than a faceprint. Turns out, apps such as FastAccess Anywhere, which uses your face as a password, can reportedly be fooled with a simple photo, says USA Today.
.Facial recognition as advertising. Could facial recognition technology be used to influence what we buy? Very likely. In 2012, an interactive ad for Choice for Girls was launched at bus stops in London. These billboards were able to scan passersby, judge their gender and show them appropriate content. Girls and women got a video, while boys and men got statistics on a subject. This ad was for a good cause, but this technology will no doubt expand — and could allow corporations and organizations to tap into our personal lives in unpredictable ways. Personalized ads as we walk down the street, a la the classic scene in Minority Report, yes. But as Acquisti notes in his talk, there’s a potentially more subtle application of this technology too: ads that can identify us and our two favorite friends on Facebook. From there, it’s a snap to create a composite image of a person who’ll star in an ad targeted just to us. For more in what’s coming in the facial recognition advertising realm, check out Leslie Stahl’s 60 Minutes segment “A Face in the Crowd: Say goodbye to anonymity.” Among other fascinating tidbits, it introduces us to FaceDeals — which notes when you’ve walked into an establishment, mines your Facebook likes and text messages a deal created just for you.
.Shattered Glass. As Acquisti notes in his talk, the fact that someone’s face can be used to find out private information is especially disconcerting given Google Glass’ emergence on the scene. In June, US lawmakers questioned Google about the privacy implications of the device and, in response, Google stressed that they “won’t be approving any facial recognition Glassware at this time.” But of course, it’s not completely up to them. In July, Stephen Balaban announced to NPR and the world that he had hacked Glass in order to give it facial recognition powers. “Essentially what I am building is an alternative operating system that runs on Glass but is not controlled by Google,” he said. On a similar note, one Michael DiGiovanni created a program called Winky for Glass that lets the wearer take a photo with a wink, rather than using the voice command.
.Your face as currency. In July, a Finnish company called Uniqul released a video of a project in the works, a pay-by-face authentication system. The idea? At a store, rather than paying with cash or a credit card, you give a “meaningful nod” to a scanner to make a purchase. A Huffington Post article describes this new tech, and also gives a peak at the Millennial ATM, which uses facial recognition as its primary security method.

Facial recognition is evolving rapidly. What here sounds cool and useful to you, and what sounds like a trip to Scarytown? For me, I may well be investing in these custom t-shirts, which claim to trip up facial recognition.

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A walk on the wild side: 7 fascinating experiments in rewilding

Science TEDTalks George Monbiot gets in touch with his rewilding side at TEDGlobal 2013. Photo: James Duncan Davidson

George Monbiot begins today’s talk by recalling a time he was “ecologically bored.”

“We evolved in rather more challenging times than these, in the world of horns and tusks and fangs and claws,” explains Monbiot, an investigative journalist who found himself deeply dissatisfied returning to the United Kingdom after years reporting in the tropics. George Monbiot: For more wonder, rewild the world“We still possess the fear and the courage and the aggression required to navigate those times. But in our comfortable, safe, crowded lands, we have few opportunities to exercise them without harming other people.”

In his search for a solution to this stupor, Monbiot discovered his current passion: rewilding.

It’s a term, coined by activist Dave Foreman and broadened by Michael Soulé and Reed Noss in the 1990s, that Monbiot explains has two meanings. The first involves the mass restoration of ecosystems through attention to “trophic cascades” — the ecological processes that start at the top of a food chain and tumble down to the bottom, affecting the entire ecosystem in the process. The second involves the rewilding of places humans live—restoring some of the fauna that we’ve wiped out through hunting and habitat destruction.

“Paleoecology—the study of past ecosystems crucial to an understanding of our own—feels like a portal through which you may pass into an enchanted kingdom,” Monbiot says. “The story rewilding tells us is that ecological change need not always proceed in one direction. It offers us the hope that our silent spring could be replaced by a raucous summer.”

Below, a few experiments in rewilding, drawn from Monbiot’s talk and elsewhere.

Bringing wolves back to Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming
Yellowstone National Park had become overrun with deer, which grazed away the vegetation dramatically. For years, biologists like Dave Foreman suggested a solution: bringing wolves back to the park, as the last ones were killed off in 1926. In 1995, wolves were finally reintroduced to Yellowstone, and the effects were dramatic. The wolves brought the deer population down to a sustainable population — but more importantly, they radically changed the behavior of the remaining deer. These deer started to move more often and avoid places in the park where they could easily be trapped, which in turn grew thick with vegetation. This allowed birds and beavers to move in, and the beavers’ dams became habitats for otters, muskrats, ducks, fish, reptiles and amphibians. The wolves also killed coyotes, which allowed for more rabbits and mice, which in turn boosted the populations of weasels, hawks, foxes and badgers. Meanwhile, ravens, bald eagles and bears fed on the carrion that the wolves left. In fact, even the river patterns in the park changed: the regenerating vegetation stabilized the riverbanks, which yielded less to erosion and took on straighter water flow. “The wolves, small in number, transformed not just the ecosystem of Yellowstone National Park—this huge area of land—but also its physical geography,” Monbiot explains in his talk.
.Saving whales in the southern oceans
As a second example, Monbiot describes an unexpected way in which whales are a lynchpin of the ocean ecosystem — through their excrement. Whales feed at great depth, but come up near the water’s surface as they produce large fecal plumes. Up there, sunlight allows photosynthesis to take place, which results in the growth of phytoplankton. Zooplankton, which feed on phytoplankton, prosper in turn; and they feed fish and krill—which feed whales. Not only that, but whales’ movements push phytoplankton—which absorbs carbon—back up toward the water’s surface, where it can continue to survive and reproduce. According to Monbiot, at their usual historic populations, whales were probably responsible for sequestering tens of millions of tons of carbon from the atmosphere every year. So the management of whaling, and whale conservation by groups like the International Whaling Commission is, in this sense, a form of rewilding.
.Restoring trees in Glen Moriston, Scotland
Dundreggan, a 10,000-acre estate in the Scottish Highlands, is currently overgrazed by deer and sheep, which have decimated the local vegetation. In an ongoing, decades-long process, the organization Trees for Life is reforesting the area. “Our vision is to turn Dundreggan into one of Scotland’s finest native woodlands, abundant in wildlife, and protected for generations to come,” the website reads. The organization’s long-term goal is to restore the native forest of oak, hazel, ash and Scots pines to over half of the land. By 2058, they expect to see animals like the red squirrel, European beaver and wild boars return to the area.
.Bringing beavers to mid Wales
The Cambrian Wildwood, a Wales Wild Land Foundation project, aims to restore Blaeneinion, 75 acres of land in mid Wales. The initiative, which launched in 2008, is reforesting the area with broadleaf trees, creating orchards. They are also introducing beavers to the area. “Alongside the reforestation of roughly 50 acres of pastureland, the project will incorporate subsistence organic food-growing, beekeeping, rearing small livestock and poultry, propagation of productive local fruit varieties, mushroom production, teaching components, social events, aquaculture and much, much more,” the website promises.
.A jaguar reserve in Sonora, Mexico
It sounds strange, but it’s true — jaguars were once a fixture of the southern United States and northern Mexico.  The Northern Jaguar Project works to restore habitats for jaguars and other threatened and endangered species in the area. Currently, an estimated 80-120 jaguars inhabit their Northern Jaguar Reserve in northeastern Sonora, which was established in 2003. In 2008, the reserve raised funds to purchase more land and the reserve is now a stunning 35,000-acre ranch where jaguars roam undisturbed.
.Revegetating the White River National Forest. Colorado
The White River National Forest is a 2.3 million acre park in the Rocky Mountains. The Wilderness Workshop, founded in 1967, aims to keep large swaths of it truly wild — free of roads that fragment wilderness, free of human crowds that can disrupt animals and free of logging, mining and gas drilling which can harm the ecosystem. While much of their work is about defending the wilderness as it stands, their Habitat Restoration Program is about peeling back the effects of past damage and letting the land heal itself. The Program’s projects work on erosion control, weed removal, revegetation and, of course, reintroduction of native plant and animal species.
.Bringing trout to South London
In 1805, the River Wandle was described as “the hardest worked river for its size in the world.” Ninety mills used the river then and, until very recently, it was routinely mowed of natural features to keep its water moving quickly. The last trout was caught in the river, which joins with the Thames, in 1934.  In this article, Monbiot describes The Wandle Trust, which aims to restore the river by cleaning it out, redirecting its flow and restocking it with fish. Now, shrimp, insects and trout flourish in the river … even in proximity to the big city. “Astonishingly in view of where it has come from—historically and geographically—it looks in places like the kind of chalkstreams you would expect to find flowing through some of the most bucolic landscapes in England,” writes Monbiot.

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“Urawaza”: 6 Fascinating Japanese Life Hacks

I recently picked up a copy of “Urawaza: Secret Everyday Tips and Tricks from Japan” by Lisa Katayama, and I really enjoyed it. Described by Think Geek as “the Ninja version of Martha Stewart”, the book consists of dozens of off-centered lifestyle tips, covering everything from cooking tricks to winter sports.

For example, you might “turbocharge” your winter sled by treating the bottom with nonstick cooking spray, or refresh stale coffee with a sprinkle of salt. Or, you might even use a household iron to help you perfect your bowling technique. If you have a common household problem, chances are that there is an urawaza trick that can help you out.

The History of Urawaza

As author Lisa Katayama explains in the introduction of the book, the culture of urawaza had its roots in post-WWII Japan. The country’s resources had been tapped by the war effort, and even basic provisions had become harder to come by.

There were plenty of families that were trying to do more with less after the war, and even in modern Japan there are many families living in tiny city apartments who are looking to make the most of their space and resources. In 1997, the Japanese TV program “The Ito Family Dinner Table” brought urawaza into the mainstream. The program became so popular that at one point, over 30 percent of Japanese households tuned in to watch the show every week.

The Look of the Book

Each tip in the book is framed on a single page, outlining the dilemma, the urawaza solution, and a brief blurb that explains why the tip works from the scientific standpoint. It’s short enough to read cover-to-cover in a single sitting, and accessible enough to skim through for only a few minutes at a time.

Even the design of the book is geared to help the reader be more productive. The front of the book is emblazoned with big friendly letters that encourage the reader to “DO EVERYTHING BETTER!”, a move that reminds me warmly of the “DON’T PANIC” cover art of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

The obi-style wrapper on top of the book jacket is billed as “an instant fast-forward” (read: built-in bookmark) to help readers mark their place and easily refer back to tips they are looking to try out.

So, What’s In This Book?

The book contains over 100 tips across seven topic sections. Readers can peruse a variety of life hacks that include health tips, tricks to “amaze your friends”, beauty advice, “household hacks”, kitchen/food tips, laundry shortcuts, and tips for the great outdoors.

Basically, whether you are young or old, male or female, there will be plenty of relevant hacks and tips for you to peruse. Whether you are looking for a way to prevent your car doors from freezing shut in the winter, or want to learn to master the perfect manicure, there’s a hack for that.

My Top Picks

Out of the dozens of great tips in this book, I have selected six that I thought were really interesting, unique, or just plain useful. Narrowing it down was tough, but the following tips are pretty excellent.

1. A Foolproof Hiccup Cure: Instead of drinking water or swallowing sugar, the book suggests that you stick a cotton swab into your mouth and try to tickle your uvula. Doing so will initiate a gag reflex that will override the hiccup cycle. Kinda gross, but foolproof.

2. Stop a Crying Baby: If you swish a little water in your mouth next to the baby’s ear, this will calm the child. This is because the sound is similar to the noises that the baby was accustomed to hearing while still in the womb.

3. Vinegar Tricks: A dab of apple cider vinegar can banish blemishes, and a mix of white vinegar and tap water can be applied to your hair to make it shiny.

4. Coffee Stains Begone: Boil spinach in water, and use that water and a toothbrush to lift stubborn coffee stains from fabrics. The oxalic acid present in spinach is good for busting coffee stains, but proceed with caution: this trick won’t work on white fabric because of the green pigments from the spinach.

5. Fix a Shrunken Sweater: If you’ve accidentally shrunk a favorite wool sweater, you can return it to its original size by soaking it in a solution of tap water and hair conditioner for about 30 minutes.

6. Use Your Washing Machine as a Shredder: Just place your documents into a pair of nylon pantyhose, and send them through the wash. The ink will fade or blur, and the paper will crumple and fall apart.

Conclusion

I really enjoyed reading this book. Although I haven’t had a chance to try out every single trick yet, I’ve found that some are better than others. For example, the “soap-in-the-microwave” trick was fun to watch, but didn’t deliver much in terms of results.

But, I especially enjoyed the “create your own urawaza” section at the tail end of the book, as well as the section devoted to the art of tsubo (Japanese pressure points). The tips are solid overall, and the book is definitely worth picking up if you are a fan of life hacks.

Tucker is a writer and social media professional living in New England. When she's not staring into a tiny electric box, she engages in pointless acts of stupidity at BadBoozeReview.com and posts daily at MargeryJones.com

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