Science of Beauty: Sex Signs
It’s eye-catching, head-turning, heart-breaking stuff. Beauty captivates us all. But what are we looking at? Scientists are unravelling the mystery behind stunning looks and the power of attraction. The laws of beauty are universal and timeless, refined through sexual selection and evolution. For good looks are a sign of good genes and the key to finding a healthy, fertile mate. Men and women have a basic requirement in a partner: for men there’s no doubt, its looks. But women have to make a choice between the best provider and the most handsome genes. Are 21st century lovers still following evolutionary cues, dressed up as beauty?
Science of Beauty: Face Value
The power of beauty is used to sell everything from fast cars, new beers and medical insurance. This is a world in which looks matter. But if you are born one of the beautiful, are you happy, successful and loved? Or is beauty only skin deep? As the global media brings images of the few true beauties from around the world, so the standards and expectations of the average are raised. Competition and conflict increase, and lookism becomes a feature in the schoolroom, the boardroom and the bedroom. How much do looks matter to an Italian designer, her child or an American politician?
Science of Beauty: Makers & Fakers
We’ve always been prepared to suffer to look good. Images of ideal beauty stare out at us from billboards and newsstands, produced by a multi-billion dollar beauty industry that also sells us the means to transform into that ideal. Now at the beginning of a new millennium we are coming closer than ever to being able to re-shape ourselves into whatever we desire, using the surgeon’s knife. As science moves deeper into understanding our genetic make-up, we’ll be limited only by our imaginations. On the streets of London, New York and Tokyo, what is beauty in the 21st century?
