--- title: This Is Why Fingerprints Are Forever description: Fingerprints are forever, teaching kids grit, you don't need nukes to feel safe, high school dropouts getting full time jobs and more. canonical: https://time.com/3834542/this-is-why-fingerprints-are-forever/ author: TIME article:opinion: true article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-04-24T16:18:10.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-07-09T08:20:04.640Z article:section: Ideas og:title: This Is Why Fingerprints Are Forever og:description: These are today's best ideas og:url: https://time.com/3834542/this-is-why-fingerprints-are-forever/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: This Is Why Fingerprints Are Forever twitter:description: These are today's best ideas twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # This Is Why Fingerprints Are Forever > Sponsored content. 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A paid TIME subscription is separate and available at time.com/subscribe-agent. by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Apr 24, 2015 4:18 PM UTC by [The Aspen Institute](https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/) ## The Aspen Institute Apr 24, 2015 4:18 PM UTC **1\.** [**You can change your password if someone steals it, but you’re stuck with your fingerprints forever.**](http://www.npr.org/blogs/alltechconsidered/2015/04/23/401466507/biometrics-may-ditch-the-password-but-not-the-hackers) By Aarti Shahani at NPR **2\.** [**Can teaching kids to be tough make up for income inequality?**](https://prospect.org/article/can-grit-save-american-education) By Rachel M. Cohen in the American Prospect **3\.** [**You don’t need a nuclear arsenal to feel safe.**](http://thediplomat.com/2015/04/kazakhstan-nuclear-weapons-free-for-20-years/) By Erlan Idrissov in the Diplomat **4\.** [**America’s high school dropouts are quitting school to go to work.**](http://www.urban.org/urban-wire/dropping-out-and-clocking) By Molly M. Scott at the Urban Institute **5\.** [**Here’s how AI will help your doctor diagnose cancer better.**](http://newsoffice.mit.edu/2015/how-computer-can-help-your-doctor-better-diagnose-cancer-0423) By Adam Conner-Simons at MIT News  [_The Aspen Institute_](http://www.aspeninstitute.org/) _is an educational and policy studies organization based in Washington, D.C._ ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"OpinionNewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3834542/this-is-why-fingerprints-are-forever/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3834542/this-is-why-fingerprints-are-forever/"},"headline":"This Is Why Fingerprints Are Forever","datePublished":"2015-04-24T16:18:10.000Z","dateModified":"2026-07-09T08:20:04.640Z","description":"These are today's best ideas","url":"https://time.com/3834542/this-is-why-fingerprints-are-forever/","keywords":["Innovation","School","Cancer","kids","Income Inequality","hackers","Nuclear Weapons","Kazakhstan","Passwords","AI"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"The Aspen Institute","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/the-aspen-institute/"}],"articleSection":"Ideas","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/ideas/","name":"Ideas"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/innovation/","name":"Innovation"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3834542/this-is-why-fingerprints-are-forever/","name":"This Is Why Fingerprints Are Forever"}}]}] ```