This gives a whole new meaning to the word 'manicure'

Article: http://optics.org/cws/article/research/22612

Japan has done it again. Always ahead of the curve when it comes to emerging technology, Japanese scientists have developed a femtosecond laser system that can write data on to a human fingernail. An "optical microscope containing a filtered xenon arc lamp" is then used to read the data. It has only been tested on small pieces of fingernail, so now they are perfecting a system that will work effectively on a fingernail that is still attached to a finger.

This is a pretty cool technology. At the moment, I can only see it being used for identification purposes. Right now we use fingerprint readers, but maybe in a few years they will be swapped out for fingernail readers. This would be quite an upgrade in technology, because fingerprint readers are not nearly as advanced as their newer counterparts. A person's fingerprint must be stored in a database somewhere in order for the reader to recognize it. It looks in the database for a match and allows the person access based on what it finds in the database. But with this new fingernail technology, a database would actually be stored on the nail itself. The reader would simply read the identity stored on the fingernail, look up this person in the database, and determine access privileges.

In the more distant future, I can see everyone walking around with flash drives embedded in their fingernails. Hey, at least you would never have to worry about forgetting it at home. There are a couple of issues that need addressing, however. Are the lasers used with this new technology really safe to use on humans? And what about cost effectiveness...fingernails completely replace themselves every six months, which means someone who uses this technology on a regular basis has to have it redone every six months. It seems this could be pretty costly. Plus, it could just be another Big Brother technology used to invade people's privacy. But regardless, the idea that someone has developed a database technology so advanced is fascinating.