Not because it’s Christmas! – We’re all annoyed by those “red eyes” that show up in photographs when we use a flash. But did you know that men’s FACES can turn out red too? (And WOMEN’S faces can look green!)
Why is this? Because male faces really do have a red tint, while female faces have a naturally green hue. We may have evolved this way to help us tell men from women at a distance.
In LiveScience.com, Jeanna Bryner quotes researcher Michael Tarr as saying, “Just looking at the average color in faces you can reliably tell 70 or 80% of the time whether it’s a male or female face.
“The finding also has implications for facial recognition technology, advertising, as well as studies of how and why women apply make-up. So color could be another cue used by facial recognition systems or perhaps as another data point for cosmetics concoctors who could, say, make a foundation or rouge to enhance or cover up greener areas on a woman’s face.”
Art credit: freeimages.co.uk
Most of us just try to cover up our red faces when we’re embarrassed. And there IS something that some of our readers and listeners should be embarrassed about: If you read (and love) our daily edge news and and great radio shows, but don’t subscribe. You can keep us going for less than a latte a WEEK: Less than $12 gets you a 3-month subscription. So what are you waiting for? Subscribe today!
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