An Iranian researcher at Amir Kabir University has developed a method to identify people at airports and border crossings through ear specifications.

“Biometrics such as fingerprint and iris are used for identification of people. We have used ear as a biometric in this study,” said Mina Shahriari.

She added that some biometric features change over time, but ear functions independently and does not grow old.

The researcher noted that ear images were used for the study and a histogram was used for identification process. “Using ear as a biometric is highly precise for identification of people compared with other methods of identification.”

She also said that taking the image of an individual’s ear does not need his cooperation, while in other methods of identification such as eye-scan and fingerprinting the person needs to work with the operator.

She concluded that the method can be used for identification of terrorists at borders crossings and other ports on entry.

An Iranian researcher at MIT University Hadi Ghasemi along with his colleagues developed a new material structure generating steam by soaking up the sun.

The structure — a layer of graphite flakes and an underlying carbon foam — is a porous, insulating material structure that floats on water.

When sunlight hits the structure’s surface, it creates a hotspot in the graphite, drawing water up through the material’s pores, where it evaporates as steam. The brighter the light, the more steam is generated.

The new material is able to convert 85 percent of incoming solar energy into steam — a significant improvement over recent approaches to solar-powered steam generation.

What’s more, the setup loses very little heat in the process, and can produce steam at relatively low solar intensity. This would mean that, if scaled up, the setup would likely not require complex, costly systems to highly concentrate sunlight.

“Steam is important for desalination, hygiene systems, and sterilization, Especially in remote areas where the sun is the only source of energy, if you can generate steam with solar energy, it would be very useful.” – Hadi GHsaemi

Ghasemi, a postdoc in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, said the spongelike structure can be made from relatively inexpensive materials — a particular advantage for a variety of compact, steam-powered applications.

“Steam is important for desalination, hygiene systems, and sterilization,” said Ghasemi, who led the development of the structure. “Especially in remote areas where the sun is the only source of energy, if you can generate steam with solar energy, it would be very useful.”

Ghasemi and mechanical engineering department head Gang Chen, along with five others at MIT, report on the details of the new steam-generating structure in the journal Nature Communications. […]