Weird Physiognomic Science

The Economist summarizes the findings of a study by Cambridge biological anthropologist Dr. Irene Elia published in the Quarterly Review of Biology. She begins with an earlier finding that facial shapes are related to behavioral tendencies ... in foxes.

She reasons that human concepts of facial beauty may likewise be physiological markers for desirable human traits. Her most interesting assertion is the following:

An appreciation of what is “beautiful," moreover, seems innate. (snip) Babies a few days old prefer pictures of the faces of people whom their elders would define as beautiful to those they would not, regardless of the sex and race of either the baby or the person in the photo.

Amazing ... newborns are "hardwired" with a knowledge of what constitutes human beauty.