Most basic is the human genome containing 3.2 billion letters of the DNA code, with about 16 million of them accounting for all of our individual differences, says Caroline Williams of New Scientist magazine. Since the code has four letters, the number of possible combinations is four raised to the power of 16 million, “more than enough to go around everybody who has ever lived, many times over. So the chances of anyone having exactly the same genome as you is zero, true even for identical twins.”
Though fingerprints are determined largely by genes, those of a developing fetus are tweaked by subtle pressures from the womb walls and amniotic fluid, helping make even identical twin prints unique.
In analyzing faces, our most obvious badge of identity, one recent Norwegian study found 92 percent of them had at least one lookalike that neither human observers nor facial recognition software could tell apart (“Lecture Notes on Computer Science”).
Still, faces are pretty good markers, as is gait. Since our ancestors first stood upright 1.5 million years ago, humans have generally walked the same way. But studies going back to the 1970s have shown we’re able to recognize people we know from their walk alone at least 90 percent of the time.
Scents too are largely unique. Dogs always have known this, and now science can prove it. One analysis pointed to a mix of 5,000 acids, alcohols, ketones and aldehydes — 44 of them different enough to form an individual chemical profile like a fingerprint (“Journal of the Royal Society Interface”).
And though singers croon of two hearts beating as one, recordings of electrical impulses show that “in reality, no two heartbeats are the same.” Also, because heartbeats are subconsciously controlled, they are almost impossible to fake, opening the way to experimentation with ID cards and “heartbeat passwords” to protect private information.
Try to imagine some of the spin-offs of the “Car of the Future” actually driving itself, as in “Let the robot do it.” Here are a few, as envisioned by Wired magazine editors and readers.
At least one reader immediately saw the dividend of “no road rage,” assuming unemotional robots behind the wheel. That’s the real solution to drunk driving, another reader tweeted. Of course, the digital chauffeur might take the fun out of things, as most of us still love to drive. Lamented a third reader, “I’m not sure why people are so eager to make driving the next thing computers do for us. Boring.”
Then came a few cyber cautions: “What happens when a car freaks out (or worse, is hacked) and goes on a rampage?” From a legal perspective: “It’s unlikely a self-driving car would ever be mass-produced, due to liability.” And on the need for driving smarts: “Does the robot know NOT to brake when a squirrel or raccoon crosses the highway?”
“Point taken about the roadkill,” declared the editors, “but as long as humans get to control the music, we’re on board.”
This new year (or anytime), how might you give yourself the gift of happiness?
By helping others, since the helper is helped every bit as much as the person being helped, says David G. Myers in “Psychology: Tenth Edition.” One of psychology’s most consistent findings is that happiness doesn’t just feel good, it does good. In study after study, a mood-boosting experience such as finding money, succeeding on a challenging task, or recalling a happy event made people more likely to donate money, volunteer time, pick up dropped papers and more — called the “feel good, do good phenomenon.”
And, stresses Myers, the reverse is true: “Doing good also promotes good feeling.” One of life’s more profound verities, this phenomenon often is harnessed by happiness coaches who ask subjects to perform a daily “random act of kindness” and to record the results. As William James wrote more than a century ago, happiness is “the secret motive for all we do.”