Fallible Detective

Fingerprint-identification equipments may not always give the right results. These equipments can be duped by a piece of gelatin, according to a study undertaken by a Japanese mathematician. Tsutomu Matsumoto of Yokohama National University says that his findings could undermine the extravagant claims being made for biometry, which uses inherent human traits such as fingerprints to automatically identify individuals. During his study, Matsumoto made plastic moulds of his subject's fingers, poured gelatin into the moulds and let the thin