There is an interesting visual experiment on Flickr by Pierre Tourigny that uses composite images to investigate our standards of beauty. By using SquirlzMorph to create multi-morph composites from images of dozens of people, the user made visual averages of what we consider to be attractive. The images were taken from the popular website HotOrNot, which allows people to post their pictures to be publicly rated for attractiveness on a 1 to 10 scale (10 being hot), as well as images of finalists from the 2005 Miss Universe pageant. The HotOrNot composites are curious in that they give a spectrum of attractiveness, looking closely you can distinguish the shift in proportions, from the pudgy-faced, small-nosed ones, to the thin-cheeked, curved-brow tens (there is also composites of 9.5+ images separated by age). The Miss Universe composites, apart from looking remarkably similar, display similarities between European delegates and the finalists (perhaps we still go by the old school European standards of beauty), while the American incorporates the features of all the other countries, as it closely resembles the composite made from all the participants. Though, similar to projects like Face of Tomorrow and Beauty Check have been around for a while, this one does not pose people specifically for the project, which lends it a certain authenticity. None of this, of course, proves anything about objective standards of beauty, in that it is possible we just create face-templates in our mind based on averages of faces we are told are beautiful. However, a long-term study of composites could reveal to what degree our ideals change over time.

Attractive Face Scale, Flickr.com

A new study from Northwestern University has found that selectivity in a partner is sexy. The researchers organized seven speed-dating sessions of a total 156 undergrads, who took part in four-minute speed dates with 9-13 people of the opposite sex. A short questionnaire followed each date with questions "did you like your partner" and "were you sexually attracted." Later, thru the study website, participants put down whom they would like to meet again, with double-matches given the ability to contact each other. The result, those who only picked a few people had a much higher probability of a double-match than those with checkmarks across the board. "Potential partners who seem undiscriminating are a definite turnoff, and those who evoke the magic of feeling special are a big draw," said Paul W. Eastwick, psych grad student and author of the study, while Prof. Eli J. Finkel clarifies: "People who like everyone, unlike in a friendship context where they generally are liked in return, may exude desperation in a romantic context." This study is interesting in a social context, as it explains some of the motivations behind our need for individuality and uniqueness, as well as supporting that evolution tends towards diversity even in sexual selection. So, instead of giving twelve people a single rose each this Valentine’s Day, better off to risk the whole dozen on one. It might just be that extra edge.

Selectivity is ultimate aphrodisiac, Northwestern.edu
Selectivity in speed dating podcast

An experimental art installation, the Bacterial Orchestra is a musical organism composed of several audio ‘cells’, which listen to their environment by microphones and play back sounds they pick up in sync via speakers. The individual cells ‘die’ if there us too much or too little imput and each has their own ‘DNA’ that determines how it will react to stimuli. The result is a living musical composition that changes in harmony with its environment. A noise heard by a single cell can grow, as it infects other cells during playback. The Bacterial Orchestra premiered at the New Media Meeting in Norrkoping, Iceland, (December 1, 2006), in an underground corridor, where the reverberationg naked stone walls provided excellent acoustics, while the water dripping on the concrete floor, a constant, base rhythm. As the whole point of the orchestra is its interactive nature, there are no mp3s on their website, and as of now there are no performances scheduled. Support bacteria, it’s the only culture some people have.

Bacterial Orchestra

Jean-Phillipe Charbonnier Psychiatric hospitals, Luminous-Lint.com

There’s an interesting map project that plots real-time disasters around the world through radio distress signals from the National Association of Radio-Distress Signaling and Info-communications. Disaster.net (Lt. for bad star) has everything: nuclear hazards, airplane crashes, earthquakes, volcanoes, tropical storms, epidemics, each with a little icon designating type and magnitude. The world map with little blinking icons recalls a Civilization game screen, you can click to see a description of the disaster, its recent history and what is being done to relieve it. Through a kind of God’s-eye view, you can also monitor the location, growth and movement of certain disasters, e.g. the spread of epidemics, movement of hurricanes. You can even identify the fault-lines from it, as they are lined with volcanic activity. Speeking of which, Antarctica’s Mr. Erebus, named after Greek god of Darkness, son of Chaos, has been showing some activity. The project also offers RSS feeds so you can keep track of your disasters around the clock.

Disaster.net