Molecules found on phones reveal lifestyle secrets.
From the BBC
15 November 2016
Molecules found on mobile phones reveal an astonishing
amount about the owner's health and lifestyle - including their food
preferences and medication. Californian scientists found traces of everything
from caffeine and spices to skin creams and anti-depressants on 40 phones they
tested. We leave traces of molecules, chemicals and bacteria on everything we
touch. Even washing hands thoroughly would not prevent the transfer to everyday
objects, the researchers said. Using a technique called mass spectrometry, the
University of California San Diego research team tested 500 samples taken from
40 adults' mobile phones and hands. They then compared them to molecules
identified in a database and produced a "lifestyle profile" of each
phone owner.
Dr Amina Bouslimani, an assistant project scientist on the
study, said the results were revealing. "By analysing the molecules they
left behind on their phones, we could tell if a person is likely to be female,
uses high-end cosmetics, dyes her hair, drinks coffee, prefers beer over wine,
likes spicy food, is being treated for depression, wears sunscreen and bug
spray - and therefore likely to spend a lot of time outdoors - all kinds of
things," she said.
Most of the molecules are thought to be transferred from
people's skin, hands and sweat to their phone. Mosquito repellents and
sunscreens were found to linger for a particularly long time on people's skin
and phones, even when they had not been used for months. Previous research by
the same team found that people who had not washed for three days still had
lots of traces of hygiene and beauty products on their skin. The study said the testing method could:
identify an object's owner in the absence of fingerprints
check if patients were taking their medication
provide useful information about a person's exposure to
pollution
The researchers now want to find out more about the
multitude of bacteria that cover our skin - and what they reveal about us. Senior
author Prof Pieter Dorrestein said there were at least 1,000 different microbes
living on the average person's skin, in hundreds of locations on the body.
[Sounds like something straight out of the movie Gattaca.
Maybe those who want to retain at least some privacy in the future need to start wearing
surgical gloves at all times!]
4 comments:
This is a very interesting post. It reminds me just how much the world is changing. Our societies will need to come to terms with these changes. There seems to be so much uncertainty as to how we will do so.
That's true. Things really did change much more slowly only decades ago. The new technology can be used for all kinds of things - some of which they were never intended for. We're most definitely living through some *very* interesting times and, I think, they're only going to get even more interesting. Some days the news reads like a SF novel!
SF can't keep pace with reality these days. The novels were all about The Great Things we'd do out somewhere else -- turning the solar system into our backyard, filling it with stations and such. Instead all that intelligence and material is being used to enmesh us in a matrix of screens and apps.. O_O
SF does seem to be jumping further into the future to put some distance between now and then... Plus jumping into Alternate Worlds and Post-Apocalypse themes where they don't need to worry about the shape of the future - because there isn't one.
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