Until now the usual way we identify dogs is with micro-chipping. In some countries it’s even the law. But a company from South Korea has developed an app that can identify dogs a little less invasively. On this phone, I’ve got the new app, PetNow, which is now using the dog’s nose print to identify a dog, just like you can use a fingerprint with a human to make identification. A dog’s nose print is very similar as well.

“Now show me your nose, buddy.” It takes me a few seconds to take pictures of the dog’s nose. “Oh yes, I made it, okay! Then who is the dog? Is it Emma, Lenard, Karl, or Ethan?”

The app analyses the data in the cloud and tells me that this is Emma, and not only that, it’s showing me that Emma’s been reported as missing. And it’s telling me where she was reported missing, and I can share my location with the owner, so they can be reunited.

Unlike a micro-chip, which could be cut out of a stolen dog, you can’t really remove a dog’s nose, not without spoiling the dog. And by using the phone’s camera to scan, anyone in theory can check a stray dog without any specialist equipment.

Recently, I’ve spoken to PetNow to find out why they’d settled on nose prints for dog recognition. There may be paws or ears, but some dogs really hate showing up, sharing their paws or their ears. Nose is actually exposed all the time. And after a dog become six months old the nose print stays there their entire life, so we believe that it is the best part for identification.

PetNow hopes its app will become mandatory in South Korea to help reduce the number of dogs that are abandoned by pet owners. To do that they will need the backing of government and a huge marketing push, so that everybody including people who don’t own a dog must install the app and know how to use it.

We are familiar with the button, but no one knows for sure when it came into being. The button might have shown up as early as 2,000 BCE. 【小题1】 Just something pretty sewn onto your clothes. Then about 3,000 years later, someone finally invented the buttonhole, and buttons were suddenly useful.

The button is such a great invention. Not only does it slip through the buttonhole, but then it kind of falls into place. 【小题2】 The design of a button hasn’t changed much since the Middle Ages. It’s one of the most lasting designs in history.

For me, the best buttons are usually round. There’s either a dome (圆顶状) button with a little shank (柄), or there’s just this sort of round thing with either a rim (边) or not, either two holes or four holes. 【小题3】 And the way you figure out its size is: the diameter (直径) of the button plus the width of the button, plus a little bit of room.

Before buttons, clothes were bigger — they were kind of used for covering, and people just wrapped themselves in those things. But then fashion moved closer to the body as we discovered uses for the button. 【小题4】

I think the reason why buttons have lasted for so long, historically, is that they actually work to keep our clothes shut. Zippers break; Velcro (魔术贴) makes a lot of noise, and it wears out after a while. If a button falls off, you just sew that thing on. 【小题5】 It’s not just the most elemental design ever, it’s also such a crazy fashion statement.

Since 50 years ago, scientists have been searching for ways to link the brain with computers. Brain Computer Interface (BCI) technology could help people with disabilities send commands to machines.

Recently, two researchers, Jose Millan and Michelle Tavella from the Federal Polytechnic School in Lausanne, Switzerland, demonstrated (展示) a small robotic wheelchair directed by a person’s thoughts.

In the laboratory, Tavella operated the wheelchair just by thinking about moving his left or right hand. He could even talk as he watched the vehicle and guided it with his thoughts.

“Our brain has billions of nerve cells. These send signals through the spinal cord (脊髓) to the muscles to give us the ability to move. But spinal cord injuries or other conditions can prevent these weak electrical signals from reaching the muscles,” Tavella says, “Our system allows disabled people to communicate with external world and also to control devices.”

The researchers designed a special cap for the user. This head cover picks up the signals from the scalp (头皮) and sends them to a computer. The computer interprets the signals and commands the motorized wheelchair. The wheelchair also has two cameras that identify objects in its path. They help the computer react to commands from the brain.

Prof. Millan, the team leader, says scientists keep improving the computer software that interprets brain signals and turns them into simple commands. “The practical possibilities that BCI technology offers to disabled people can be grouped in two categories: communication, and controlling devices. One example is this wheelchair.” He says his team has set two goals. One is testing with real patients, so as to prove that this is a technology they can benefit from. And the other is to guarantee that they can use the technology over long periods of time.