face

New research published in Biology Letters suggests that, similar to dogs, horses may understand our facial expressions. In a quote published in Discovery News, study author Amy Smith (University of Sussex) said, "It's possible that horses developed this ability during their 6,000-year co-evolution with humans, or indeed that individual horses learn it during their lifetimes." To examine this question, the research team showed images of men with negative or positive facial expressions to 28 horses: Sources: AV Smith, L Proops, K Grounds, J Wathan, K McComb. Functionally relevant responses to…
Surgeons at Morriston Hospital in Swansea are using 3D printing technology to create titanium implants for a patient whose face was crushed in an accident. This was reported to be the first use of 3D printing to recreate a face after an injury. Using CT scans, they created a mirror image of the side of the patient's face that was not damaged by the motorbike accident. They hope to begin the reconstruction process very soon. This reconstruction project is actually the feature exhibit in "3D: Printing The Future" at the Science Museum in London until July 2014. Source: BBC News For more…
"A man's face is his autobiography. A woman's face is her work of fiction." -Oscar Wilde It's an intense world out there, and life can leave you weary in many ways. And sometimes, making your way through each day makes it feel like the whole world is watching, and there's no hiding. Have a listen, this weekend, to The Basement's song, I Just Caught A Face. Sometimes, no matter how hard we try to put our best face forward, we come off as stand-offish (or worse) to the world. Image credit: ©2009-2013 ~lalalietta of deviantART. Well, what if that person with the confrontational look on their…
You may recall a prior post in which I talked about how intelligent crows are. In fact, there was a special on PBS demonstrating their ability to solve problems and even recognize human faces (HIGHLY recommended if you haven't yet had a chance to see it): Watch A Murder of Crows on PBS. See more from Nature. In a more recent study, Dr. Marzluff and colleagues used brain scans to demonstrate that crows not only remember faces, but they can also remember how they were treated by various people. In the study, his team captured 12 wild American crows while wearing latex "captor" face masks. In…
Take a look at these two fish. At first glance, they seem incredibly similar but in fact, they belong to two separate species. The one on the top is an Ambon damselfish (Pomacentrus amboinensis) and the one on the bottom is a lemon damselfish (P.moluccensis). If the distinction is hard for us to grasp, it's because we're not looking with the right eyes. The fish have a secret communication channel that's hidden to us. To hack into it, we need to look at the fish under an ultraviolet lamp.  The glare of a UV light reveals that the even yellow colours of the damselfishes' faces are actually…
Going through the photo backlog. From Jenny's village. Leaves on the patio in D's sandpit. Winter river. Christ Church meadow. Rose. Bridge of Sighs. Bridge, Cheddington.
During elections, what affects our decision to vote for one politician over another? We'd like to think that it's an objective assessment of many different factors including their various policies, their values, their record and so on. But in reality, voters are just not that rational. In the past, studies have shown that people can predict which of two politicians will win an election with reasonable accuracy based on a second-long looks at their faces. With a fleeting glance and little purposeful consideration, people make strong judgments about a candidate's competence, that can sway…