WEBVTT - Cannibalism Nutrition, a Border Wall Hyperloop, and the FBI's Facial Recognition 0:00:01.360 --> 0:00:04.120 Welcome to has To Works Now. I'm your host, Lauren Vogelbaum, 0:00:04.160 --> 0:00:10.600 a researcher and writer. Here it has To Works. Every week, 0:00:10.640 --> 0:00:12.760 I'm bringing you three stories from our team about the 0:00:12.800 --> 0:00:16.480 weird and wondrous advances we've seen in science, technology, and culture. 0:00:16.960 --> 0:00:20.320 This week, a suggestion has arisen for improving Trump's potential 0:00:20.360 --> 0:00:24.680 border wall, making it a host to a hyperloop, and unrelated, 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:27.319 a study has found that there aren't enough calories in 0:00:27.320 --> 0:00:31.280 the human body to fully explain cannibalism. But First Senior 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:35.000 writer and forward Thinking host Jonathan Strickland explores the controversy 0:00:35.120 --> 0:00:40.199 surrounding a United States Federal Bureau of Investigation facial recognition program. 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:43.879 The Bureau has access to a huge number of Americans photos, 0:00:44.280 --> 0:00:47.919 even those without criminal records, for use in criminal investigations. 0:00:51.560 --> 0:00:54.640 If the FBI had an unlabeled photo of you and 0:00:54.720 --> 0:00:58.480 ran a search using facial recognition technology, do you think 0:00:58.520 --> 0:01:01.280 they'd find you if you're an adult living in the 0:01:01.320 --> 0:01:04.679 United States. The answer is they'd have a fifty fifty shot. 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:08.800 We know that because Georgetown University's Center on Privacy and 0:01:08.840 --> 0:01:13.800 Technology research law enforcement's use of facial recognition technology and 0:01:13.880 --> 0:01:18.000 found one in every two adult Americans has an image 0:01:18.080 --> 0:01:22.560 stored on some official agencies database. Some of the images 0:01:22.600 --> 0:01:26.760 in these databases are from criminal investigations, but others come 0:01:26.840 --> 0:01:32.200 from applications for licenses, official identification cards, security clearance forms, 0:01:32.240 --> 0:01:36.199 and other non criminal sources. Depending upon the type of search, 0:01:36.480 --> 0:01:39.800 your photo could end up in an FBI virtual lineup 0:01:40.000 --> 0:01:44.400 without your knowledge. The practice is problematic for many reasons. 0:01:44.760 --> 0:01:47.920 Perhaps most troubling is there are no official laws or 0:01:47.960 --> 0:01:52.760 regulations that set parameters for conducting facial recognition matches. Each 0:01:52.800 --> 0:01:56.360 agency has its own set of guidelines, but they vary widely, 0:01:56.640 --> 0:02:00.480 and in many cases there's little to no oversight. Critics 0:02:00.480 --> 0:02:03.960 say this could potentially violate Fourth Amendment rights, which protect 0:02:03.960 --> 0:02:08.640 against unreasonable search and seizure. To complicate matters, these various 0:02:08.680 --> 0:02:12.959 agencies rely on different software vendors for facial recognition technology. 0:02:13.440 --> 0:02:16.000 Most of these agencies have no system in place to 0:02:16.080 --> 0:02:19.600 audit the technology to make certain it is accurate. Several 0:02:19.639 --> 0:02:23.639 agencies require human analysts to look at potential matches between 0:02:23.639 --> 0:02:27.480 a probe photo and their search results, but Georgetown University's 0:02:27.520 --> 0:02:30.680 research showed humans make the wrong call on these matches 0:02:30.880 --> 0:02:34.840 fifty percent of the time. Chances are you don't want 0:02:34.880 --> 0:02:37.440 the FBI investigating you for a criminal act because of 0:02:37.440 --> 0:02:39.919 a bad coin flip. There are a lot of other 0:02:39.960 --> 0:02:44.520 potential issues with facial recognition searches. In March two thousand seventeen, 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:48.720 Congress held hearings about the FBI's use of these databases. 0:02:49.000 --> 0:02:52.679 The discussion became heated, with members of both major political 0:02:52.720 --> 0:02:57.480 parties criticizing the implementation of facial recognition procedures without first 0:02:57.639 --> 0:03:02.120 establishing the legality of them in an investigation. It's likely 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:04.919 that we'll see a call for regulating law enforcement's use 0:03:04.960 --> 0:03:08.640 of facial recognition software in the near future. That doesn't 0:03:08.760 --> 0:03:10.960 change the fact that for more than five years, the 0:03:11.040 --> 0:03:15.600 FBI has used this tech to identify and pursue investigative leads, 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:19.160 but regulations will help prevent future misuse of a technology 0:03:19.200 --> 0:03:21.640 that has the potential to restrict civil rights to a 0:03:21.720 --> 0:03:28.799 significant degree. Next up, staff editor Eaves, Jeff Coote and 0:03:28.919 --> 0:03:32.720 our freelance writer Michelle Konstantinovski dig into one group's plans 0:03:32.760 --> 0:03:35.040 to give the proposed border wall between the US and 0:03:35.080 --> 0:03:38.600 Mexico and extra dimension of speed. They want to use 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:47.600 the structure to build hyperlink In June, the Trump administration 0:03:47.680 --> 0:03:50.520 plans to announce ten companies it wants to hire to 0:03:50.600 --> 0:03:54.560 build prototypes of this planned border wall between Mexico and 0:03:54.600 --> 0:03:59.280 the United States. A group of fourteen Mexican and American engineers, 0:03:59.680 --> 0:04:04.640 urban planners, ecologists, and architects, dubbed the Made Collective, hopes 0:04:04.680 --> 0:04:08.840 it will be among them. While dozens of private contractors 0:04:08.880 --> 0:04:12.160 likely took heat of the Customs and Border Protections request 0:04:12.600 --> 0:04:17.120 for design prototypes depicting a solid concrete barrier between nations, 0:04:17.760 --> 0:04:22.400 the main collective offered and alternative, a hyperloop. A hyper 0:04:22.440 --> 0:04:25.039 loop is a type of mass transit that uses low 0:04:25.080 --> 0:04:29.400 pressure tubes and transports people and goods at lightning fast speeds. 0:04:30.200 --> 0:04:35.440 Based on SpaceX CEO Elon Musk's original concept, hyper loop 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:38.800 pods will hypothetically travel over seven hundred miles per hour 0:04:39.360 --> 0:04:43.039 or about one thousand, one hundred kilometers per hour. In 0:04:43.080 --> 0:04:46.479 the main collectives version, the hyper loop system would stretch 0:04:46.600 --> 0:04:50.479 one thousand, two hundred fifty miles or two thousand kilometers 0:04:50.480 --> 0:04:53.920 from San Diego and Tijuana across the Texas Mexico border. 0:04:54.760 --> 0:04:57.640 But this chunk of land wouldn't just be a standalone 0:04:57.640 --> 0:05:02.040 transit system. According to the Make Collectives proposal, it would 0:05:02.080 --> 0:05:06.840 also become an entirely new territory called Ultra Nation. That's right. 0:05:07.400 --> 0:05:10.960 In response to Trump's call for designs, the group offered 0:05:10.960 --> 0:05:14.080 to create an independent nation that the U S and 0:05:14.240 --> 0:05:18.440 Mexico share. The full proposal was submitted to both governments, 0:05:18.440 --> 0:05:20.920 with the budget costs to the US of about ten 0:05:20.960 --> 0:05:25.240 billion dollars to fifteen billion dollars. The Main Collective's proposal 0:05:25.400 --> 0:05:28.920 also includes the additional eleven billion dollars Trump has earmarked 0:05:28.960 --> 0:05:32.799 for the border wall to be reinvested into healthcare, education, 0:05:32.920 --> 0:05:35.920 and the arts in the United States. In addition to that, 0:05:36.360 --> 0:05:39.839 it proposes plans for stations throughout the hyper loop network 0:05:40.160 --> 0:05:43.560 to serve people from all nations, and for solar farms 0:05:43.600 --> 0:05:46.840 to power the system. The group's members laid out their 0:05:46.880 --> 0:05:50.560 full plan on a dedicated Ultra Nation website, and they've 0:05:50.600 --> 0:05:53.520 also launched a change dot org petition to replace the 0:05:53.520 --> 0:05:57.800 border's current fencing with this hyper loop design. On this website, 0:05:57.880 --> 0:06:00.600 the group calls the hyperlop plan a trans national new 0:06:00.640 --> 0:06:04.080 deal and says it will be built on local economic empowerment, 0:06:04.560 --> 0:06:09.479 energy independence, and revolutionary infrastructure and transit. The group hops 0:06:09.520 --> 0:06:11.360 to plan will get people on both sides of the 0:06:11.400 --> 0:06:15.280 border talking, but it remains unclear whether the proposed wall 0:06:15.320 --> 0:06:19.279 will ever be a reality. Trump initially assured Americans that 0:06:19.320 --> 0:06:22.440 he would stick Mexico with a construction bill, but he 0:06:22.520 --> 0:06:25.680 has since turned to Congress to ask for funding. The 0:06:25.760 --> 0:06:29.359 plan has also been the subject of skepticism and scrutiny 0:06:29.480 --> 0:06:33.599 from both Democrats and Republicans, and some people suspect US 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:36.720 taxpayers would actually be forced to foot the bill, which 0:06:36.720 --> 0:06:39.040 an m I T study estimates could cost anywhere from 0:06:39.120 --> 0:06:49.440 twenty seven billion dollars to forty billion dollars. Finally, this week, 0:06:49.520 --> 0:06:52.760 staff editor Christopher Hassiotas and our freelance writer Laurie L. 0:06:52.839 --> 0:06:55.320 Dove bring us the results of a slightly strange study. 0:06:55.800 --> 0:06:59.159 The researchers set out to discover exactly how nutritious human 0:06:59.200 --> 0:07:02.320 flesh is, and therefore how likely it is that ancient 0:07:02.400 --> 0:07:09.400 humans eight other ancient humans to survive. By this point 0:07:09.400 --> 0:07:11.720 in our still young century, you've likely heard of the 0:07:11.720 --> 0:07:15.320 Paleo diet thousands of times. That trendy regiment's name is 0:07:15.320 --> 0:07:19.000 short for Paleolithic, the Stone Age, and supposedly mimics the 0:07:19.080 --> 0:07:22.280 nutrition of ancient humans who lived about ten thousand years ago, 0:07:23.000 --> 0:07:27.040 although it really doesn't, but that's another story. Cave people 0:07:27.160 --> 0:07:30.200 ate meats, seafood, nuts, and a few fruits and vegetables 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:33.320 and one other food source that doesn't show up on 0:07:33.320 --> 0:07:38.119 today's protein focused food blogs other people. Archaeologists in Western 0:07:38.200 --> 0:07:41.000 Europe have evidence that the precursors to modern humans ate 0:07:41.040 --> 0:07:44.560 their neighbors during the Paleolithic era, particularly due to butchery 0:07:44.560 --> 0:07:48.880 marks found on human bones. Most experts, though, debate whether 0:07:48.920 --> 0:07:51.560 cannibalism was part of a balanced diet of our ancestral 0:07:51.600 --> 0:07:54.960 hominins or whether it was something more ritualistic or ceremonial. 0:07:55.560 --> 0:07:59.160 To be classified as nutritional cannibalism, the people that Paleolithic 0:07:59.200 --> 0:08:03.280 clans eight needed to be well nutritious, So just how 0:08:03.280 --> 0:08:05.680 many calories are in a human thigh or an ear? 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:10.040 Archaeologist James Cole of the University of Brighton in England 0:08:10.040 --> 0:08:13.320 wondered the same thing, and so, being a scientist, he 0:08:13.360 --> 0:08:16.640 decided to find out. Think of the diagrams of cattle 0:08:16.720 --> 0:08:18.680 and pig that illustrate different cuts of meat you might 0:08:18.720 --> 0:08:21.440 see in a butcher's shop, Cole mapped out the human 0:08:21.440 --> 0:08:24.160 body in much the same way, then determined the caloric 0:08:24.200 --> 0:08:27.200 count within each segment, showing how much energy each would 0:08:27.200 --> 0:08:30.120 transfer to an eater if consumed, publishing his findings in 0:08:30.120 --> 0:08:34.360 the journal Scientific Reports. A human thigh, for instance, contains 0:08:34.360 --> 0:08:37.839 a hefty thousand, three hundred and fifty calories, while the 0:08:37.880 --> 0:08:40.640 spleen offers up only a modest one hundred and thirty calories. 0:08:41.120 --> 0:08:43.520 If you're more of a head and torso diner, that'll 0:08:43.600 --> 0:08:46.360 let you about five thousand, four hundred and twenty calories, 0:08:47.000 --> 0:08:50.040 and those upper arms seven thousand, four hundred and fifty 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:53.960 calories total. Overall, the average human body has anywhere from 0:08:54.000 --> 0:08:58.160 one thousand to a hundred and forty four thousand consumable calories. 0:08:58.800 --> 0:09:01.640 Some parts may take longer to digest. You'll rack up 0:09:01.679 --> 0:09:04.280 ten thousand, two hundred and eighty calories from human skin alone, 0:09:04.800 --> 0:09:07.520 while others are snacks, eyes like the kidneys, containing just 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:11.480 three D eighty calories. The brain, spinal cord, and nerves. 0:09:11.880 --> 0:09:14.000 We're thinking of stew might be the most appropriate cooking 0:09:14.040 --> 0:09:17.200 method for that will provide you two thousand, seven hundred calories, 0:09:17.800 --> 0:09:20.520 and human bones contain about twenty five thousand, three D 0:09:20.640 --> 0:09:23.719 and thirty bone broth is so on trend right now, 0:09:23.760 --> 0:09:27.000 after all, Despite all this talk of ancient eating habits, 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:30.080 Cole concluded that other humans are probably not a regular 0:09:30.120 --> 0:09:34.319 meal of choice, eaten for nutritive value. Disappointment is other people, 0:09:34.400 --> 0:09:36.920 after all, and it turns out that that holds true 0:09:36.960 --> 0:09:40.520 for nutrition, especially when compared to competing available food sources. 0:09:41.320 --> 0:09:44.840 The carcass of one single wooly mammoth, for instance, contains 0:09:44.840 --> 0:09:48.320 a whopping three point six million calories and would have 0:09:48.320 --> 0:09:52.280 given an entire tribe food for about eight weeks. A human, 0:09:52.280 --> 0:09:54.520 on the other hand, would have provided enough calories for 0:09:54.559 --> 0:09:56.920 a tribe to subside on for only a half day, 0:09:57.360 --> 0:09:59.800 leaving everyone to wonder what's for dinner after just a 0:09:59.800 --> 0:10:03.160 few hours. Cole concludes that because of the relatively meager 0:10:03.200 --> 0:10:06.600 calorie counts of human body, people ate other people only 0:10:06.640 --> 0:10:09.839 for social or cultural reasons, not for their own health. 0:10:10.360 --> 0:10:13.120 Modern paleo dieters be glad the recipe books skip this 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:20.520 particular ingredient. That's our show for this week. Thank you 0:10:20.679 --> 0:10:23.000 so much for tuning in. Further thanks to our audio 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:26.840 producer Dylan Fagan and our editorial Liaison's Christopher Hasiotas and 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:29.880 Alison louder Milk. Subscribe to now Now for more of 0:10:29.880 --> 0:10:31.960 the latest science news, and send us links to anything 0:10:32.000 --> 0:10:34.640 you'd like to hear us cover. Plus who's your favorite 0:10:34.640 --> 0:10:37.000 Star Wars character? I might be seriously in love with 0:10:37.000 --> 0:10:39.480 Triple Zero from the Darth Vader comics. Let us know. 0:10:39.840 --> 0:10:41.920 You can send us an email at now podcast at 0:10:41.920 --> 0:10:44.640 how stuff works dot com, and of course, for lots 0:10:44.640 --> 0:10:47.240 more stories like these, head on over to our home planet, 0:10:47.600 --> 0:10:57.199 now dot how stuff works dot com.