Identification Gallery

Fingerprint scanner

Fingerprint scanner. Person's finger being scanned by a fingerprint scanner. This scanner is being used to open a door. The ridges on people's fingers form a unique identifying pattern. This pattern can be stored in a computer and a scanner uses this information to identify people. Security technology based on identifying a person's unique biological data, such as fingerprint patterns, the patterns of the iris and retina, and sequences of DNA, is known as biometric technology

© PAUL RAPSON/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

Pompilid spider wasp C018/4316

Pompilid spider wasp (Pepsis ruficornis), close-up photo. This specimen was found in the Dominican Republic. It is coloured metallic dark blue and purple with yellow antenna. Spider wasps are solitary and hunt spiders. Once caught, the wasp paralyses the spider and lays her eggs inside. Some species will bury the spider in a burrow. The emerging larvae feed on the still-alive spider. Photographed by the USGS Bee Inventory and Monitoring Lab: an organisation dedicated to identifying, cataloguing and monitoring bees and other insect species

© US GEOLOGICAL SURVEY/SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY

LTV F-8FN Crusader cockpit close-up

Aeronavale - LTV F-8FN Crusader cockpit close-up, waiting for clearance from the deck crew to approach the catapult for launch, from Foch or Clemenceau, during an operational cruise. (Note: Foch and'Clemenceau were two almost identical ships, to which the French Navy did not apply distinctive markings, making identification very difficult). Date: 1986

© The Peter Butt Aviation Collection / Mary Evans A The Peter Butt Aviation Collection / Mary Evans