Fun with biometrics
Cute article in the Crypto-Gram crypto/security newsletter about a Japanese cryptographer who's developed a way to cheaply and easily create artificial fingers out of gelatin that will fool fingerprint scanners 80% of the time. He can create these fake fingers based on fingerprints left on a piece of glass. So much for biometrics. And you thought Mission: Impossible was fiction!
(A friend pointed out some time ago that the other problem with biometrics as security systems is that they create a market for the body part in question. If my fingers are the only thing that will open a door, then my fingers will be in demand among those who want to get through that door. Ditto for eyes and retina scans, and so on. Gross but true.)