Revolutionary breakthrough: 'Unbreakable' security codes inspired by nature

A revolutionary new method of encrypting confidential information has been patented by scientists at Lancaster University.

They have been inspired by their discoveries from human biology, which model how the heart and lungs coordinate their rhythms by passing information between each other.

A mathematical model based on the complex interaction between these organs has now been transferred to the world of modern communications.

This discovery could transform daily life which is reliant on secure electronic communications for everything from mobiles to sensor networks and the internet.

Every device, from your car key to online bank account, contains different identification codes enabling information to be transferred in confidence. But the race to outwit the hackers means there is a continual demand for better encryption methods.
Inspiration for the new method of encryption came from interdisciplinary research in the Physics Department (www.physics.lancs.ac.uk/research/nonlinear-and-biomedical-physics) by Dr Tomislav Stankovski, Professor Peter McClintock, and Professor Aneta Stefanovska, and the patent includes Dr Robert Young.

Professor McClintock commented that this is a significant discovery.

He said: "This promises an encryption scheme that is so nearly unbreakable that it will be equally unwelcome to internet criminals and official eavesdroppers."