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"Discovery Files" Features from the National Science Foundation
"Gender Render"
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RED OR GREEN? LEAVE IT TO BROWN... THE "DISCOVERY FILES": NEW ADVANCES IN SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING, FROM THE NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION. IN POLITICS, WE'RE DIVIDED INTO "RED" AND "BLUE" STATES. BUT, WHEN IT COMES TO FACIAL CHARACTERISTICS AND GENDER, IT'S MORE ABOUT "RED" AND "GREEN"--AT LEAST, ACCORDING TO BROWN UNIVERSITY. A NEW STUDY LOOKED INTO CHARACTERISTICS OF COLOR-TONE IN THE FACES OF MEN AND WOMEN WEARING NO MAKEUP; SOME 200 THREE-D IMAGES WERE ANALYZED FOR OVERALL PIGMENTATION. THE RESULT? MEN HAD PREDOMINANTLY RED PIGMENT--WHILE WOMEN, MOST OFTEN, HAD GREEN. THE RESEARCH TEAM THEN WANTED TO KNOW WHETHER WE ACTUALLY INTERPRET THESE DIFFERENCES, WHEN LOOKING AT A FACE. SO, THEY CREATED AN ANDROGYNOUS COMPOSITE FACE, AND SHOWED IT TO STUDY PARTICIPANTS--STUDENTS AT BROWN WITH "20/20" VISION AND NO COLOR BLINDNESS. THESE IMAGES WERE PURPOSELY BLURRED AND PIXILATED; THE SCIENTISTS ALSO CAREFULLY MANIPULATED THE COLOR. LOOKING AT THE FUZZY IMAGES, THE STUDENTS WERE ASKED TO IDENTIFY EACH IMAGE AS A MAN OR A WOMAN. AGAIN, THE REDDER THE IMAGE, THE MORE LIKELY IT WAS IDENTIFIED AS "MALE"--THE GREENER THE IMAGE, THE MORE LIKELY IT WAS IDENTIFIED AS "FEMALE". THE FINDINGS COULD HAVE IMPLICATIONS FROM MARKETING TO MAKEUP--AS WELL AS FOR SECURITY AND OTHER APPLICATIONS THAT REQUIRE FACIAL RECOGNITION. WHETHER OR NOT YOU CONSCIOUSLY PERCEIVE THESE DIFFERENCES IN FACIAL COLOR, WE NOW KNOW THAT IT'S NOT JUST A "PIGMENT" OF YOUR IMAGINATION. THE "DISCOVERY FILES" COVERS PROJECTS FUNDED BY THE GOVERNMENT'S NATIONAL SCIENCE FOUNDATION: FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH BROUGHT TO YOU BY YOU! LEARN MORE AT "N-S-F"-DOT-GOV--OR ON THEIR PODCAST.
For additional "Discovery Files" features from the National Science Foundation, click here.
