It's no secret that most people accumulate wrinkles on their faces as they age. But now, a 3D analysis of those wrinkles and other signs of aging could reveal a person's age based on only an image of his or her face, a new study finds.
The researchers also found that levels of several biological markers in people's blood are associated with the markers of aging that appear on people's faces. For instance, women with older-looking faces tend to have higher levels of "bad" cholesterol, the researchers found.
"3D facial images can really tell your biological age," said the study's senior researcher Jing-Dong Han, a professor of computational biology at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Max Planck Partner Institute in Shanghai. "It's really more accurate than a physical exam." [8 Tips for Healthy Aging]
In the study, the researchers used a special camera, called the 3dMDface System, to take 3D facial scans of 332 Chinese people. The scientists also collected blood samples from the participants, who ranged in age from 17 to 77 years old.
An analysis of the 3D scans revealed several patterns: As a person grows older, the mouth grows longer, the nose becomes wider, the forehead narrows, and the distances between the mouth and nose increases, the researchers found. The corners of the eyes also droop with age, likely because of gravity's relentless pull, the scientists said.
Moreover, young faces are smoother and thinner than old faces, while old faces have more sagging and fat accumulation and fuller cheeks than young faces, the researchers wrote in the study.
Modeling age
The researchers created a mathematical model to calculate each person's age based on the 3D scans. Results showed that people younger than 40 can look up to six years younger or six years older than their actual ages, based on their facial features. So, people who are 30 years old might look as young as 24 or as old as 36.
Variation increased in people older than age 40, meaning that some people looked much younger, whereas others looked much older, making it harder to determine their true ages, the researchers said.
This new model could help identify which people are aging physiologically faster, or slower, than their chronological age suggests, the researchers said.
It may also help doctors tailor treatments for individuals, Han said. For example, fast agers, meaning the people who have reached physiological ages that are older than their chronological ages, could perhaps receive treatment more suited for older people, she said. (For example, older people with cancer usually receive smaller doses of chemotherapy than younger people do, she said.)
The biological indicators in the participants' blood samples also showed age correlations with people's faces. Women with older-looking faces tended to have higher levels of "bad" cholesterol. In men, those with older-aged faces tended to have lower levels of albumin, a protein found in blood plasma.
Moreover, high levels of "good" cholesterol and albumin were associated with reduced fullness in the cheeks and the regions below the eyes in both men and women, the researchers said.
"But so far I don't know if this is causal or a mere correlation," Han said of the blood biomarker results.
Still, the new model shows that 3D facial imaging is a better predictor of a person's true age than current blood profiles, Han said.
The results are likely to vary among people of different ethnicities, however, said Dr. Jean Carruthers, a clinical professor of ophthalmology, who specializes in facial cosmetic surgery at the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, who was not involved in the study.
"I liked their concepts of slow and faster agers, but more work will be needed to correlate the future health of these subjects with their facial parameters over a period of time," Carruthers told Live Science.
Han agreed, and said that she has collaborators in the United States who are interested in collecting American samples. In the future, Han and her colleagues may also look at other biomarkers, such as microRNA expression, and see whether they are tied to aging.
The study was published online today (March 31) in the Nature journal Cell Research.
Follow Laura Geggel on Twitter @LauraGeggel . Follow Live Science @livescience , Facebook & Google+ . Original article on Live Science.
When I was 10-years-old, my baby brother was born. This blessed event threw me into a state of emotional turmoil. Feelings of love and hate raced through my mind like a brazen cat chasing a nervy, intruding mouse.
I adored this exquisite little brother and longed to hold and care for him. Simultaneously, I resented his arrival -- now I had to share my mother's overstretched attention with him and three other siblings.
To confess to feelings of "hatred" was out of the question. In a quandary about what to do, I resolved to keep a diary on a small pad of paper hidden between blue plastic covers. In silent, secret letters, I could express taboo feelings and thoughts, raw emotions, feelings of love, pride and resentment, as well as record my brother's milestones: the first day he sampled a banana, the morning he sat up by himself, the day he mastered his first steps.
The private confessor was magical in its ability to relieve distress, any time of the day or night. Giving form to these thoughts seemed to validate them and at the same time allow them to be tossed aside.
When I was 12-years-old, my parents separated. Once again, the writing tool seemed like a life jacket to buoy me over a raging tsunami. I could acknowledge my thoughts without having to share my feelings and possibly exacerbate my parents' tense situation.
I didn't understand how jotting down thoughts converted into relief and a sense of power and control until years later I discovered the work of the great philosopher and psychologist William James. James viewed the mind/self as divided into two parts: 1. the aspect (of mind) that participates and registers the experience in the moment and 2. The (aspect of) mind that reflects on the experience after it has occurred. In essence the writing tool was an expression, an expansion of the observer.
James' clarification of the mind split into experiencer and observer imputed an ability of power to control and the possibility of change. If a person revisited an event he might be able to see the role he played in it. Going a step further, she might perceive her potential to alter her behavior and affect a different outcome.
In the early days of civilization, we humans believed we were at the mercy of the gods -- they determined our fate. We couldn't conceptualize that we could control our destiny, at least to a certain extent. But the course of human development has shown us that we possess the power to change. The reflecting/observing part of our brain imbues us with this potential.
Along the lines of James, David Brooks, the New York Times journalist, wrote a column about a "sense of agency" that applies to people who recognize the control they exert in their lives. These people hold the reins and steer their life course. (I realized that the writing tool places a person in the driver's seat of her life, granting the ability to take charge.) By contrast a person who lacks "agency" feels jostled about, acted upon by outside forces, similar to how we experienced life in the days of early civilization.
Another turning point came when I was 20-years-old. I had just finished the first year of med school in Puerto Rico and had been living with my father and his family when, without warning, he announced that I'd have to move out. What seemed disastrous at first proved a great blessing.
At first, I thought about returning home to New York City, but I realized I'd be abandoning my goal to become a physician. I needed to reframe my approach to think more like a ballplayer and to keep an eye on the game in order to score. My goal was to become a doctor; my intention wasn't to live with my father.
I was most fortunate to find human angels in my path. In searching for a place to live, I knocked on the door of the YWCA on Ponce de Leon Avenue in Old San Juan. A kindly woman opened the warped, wooden door of the Y, a rambling unpainted structure that looked as if it might be blown away by the next big hurricane. I shall never forget Mrs. Rodriquez, a short, middle-aged woman with wavy, salt-and-pepper hair, a pixie face and twinkling brown eyes. When I explained my situation, she immediately recognized that I needed a quiet place to study and assigned me the only single room available. (Mercifully, the Y remained standing for several years for which we residents were infinitely grateful.)
Once out of my father's house, I was both frightened and thrilled to have freedom to come and go, no longer having to rely on Dad for transportation. Because of my pierced ears, brightly colored clothing and ability to enunciate Spanish phrases, I passed as Puerto Rican. I basked in my newly- acquired identity. Gaining facility with the Spanish language helped me communicate with Spanish-speaking patients once I returned to the States.
Another miracle occurred when I met an American physician who was vacationing with his family in Old San Juan; he wrote me a letter recommending me to a medical school in Philadelphia where I could move to be closer to my mother and siblings.
In summary I'm grateful for what I've discovered in the face of some challenging circumstances.
When I visited the Sivile Primary School in South Africa's Western Cape, I was struck by a feeling. It was a feeling of the vulnerability of the children all around me, who are put at huge risk every single day. It is a threat and a risk they face for what should be a simple journey. Yet, they are placed in harm's way just for trying to get to their school to gain an education.
Right in front of their houses in the very poor neighbourhood of Khayelitsha, sits a high speed road -- the Jeff Masemola Highway. It's a road that brings trucks and cars at 90 km/h right through the settlement, the traffic rattling the corrugated iron roofs of the shacks where the children live. And it is a road that brings fear and misery every day to the schoolchildren of Sivile Primary.
I visited the Sivile Primary last year for the launch of the Safe Schools project, which I am privileged to be involved in as part of my work campaigning for the UN Decade of Action for Road Safety. The project is the first of its kind in South Africa, but is in line with similar initiatives supported by the Road Safety Fund globally, including in Tanzania, Mexico and Costa Rica.
When you stand at the Jeff Masemola Highway outside the school, you appreciate the difficulty the children of Khayelitsha face as they try to get to school early each day. Hundreds of children stand by the road every morning -- running and then stopping to avoid trucks and cars that clatter by, inches from their faces. In fact, more than one in five children reported that they had been involved in a road crash in some way -- a shockingly high number.
The Safe Schools project, which is being supported by Janssen and the FIA Foundation, is coordinated by ChildSafe South Africa, which is a member of Safe Kids Worldwide. It has researched the problem and has found solutions, including safe infrastructure, education, collaboration and sustainability. Now that these solutions are being implemented, the students at Sivile have a better chance of getting to school safely.
I helped launch the project in May 2014 with the FIA Foundation's Road Safety Fund and our partners. For Janssen, the principal donor, the project continues its support for the Decade of Action for Road Safety. I was honored to speak about the initiative during my presentation at the Safe Roads | Safe Kids Global Road Safety Summit, when leaders from 30 countries met in Washington, D.C. at the end of last year to collaborate on helping our most vulnerable road users. What struck me then was the momentum that is building around the world to support our children. The Summit was an opportunity to learn from others. And at the same time, it was encouraging to hear that much can be learned from our communities in South Africa.
When I attended the launch at Sivile, I could sense the vulnerability of the students, but I could also feel a tremendous sense of hope for children in South Africa and around the world. Road traffic injury is a man-made epidemic and a serious burden on children and young people globally, but it is preventable. The vaccines for this epidemic are readily available: safe crossings, protected footpaths and speed restrictions, together with well-designed education programs. No child should be denied protection on our roads. With a clear voice we must call for global support to ensure that road safety becomes a development priority.
This is the message of "Save Kids Lives," the global campaign for children's road safety, which I've been privileged to help launch. It calls on policymakers to take strong action to improve road safety for children everywhere. The campaign has been gathering thousands of supporters since it was launched, and our goal is to capture 100,000 signatures for the Child Declaration by Global Road Safety Week, from May 4 to May 10, 2015. To help, visit http://ift.tt/1wPay1W.
With projects like the Safe Schools initiative and the Save Kids Lives campaign, we are walking the walk, demonstrating how much can be achieved if we work together. We know that lives can be saved. Let's collaborate and combat this leading killer of our children -- the most vulnerable in our society, but who we value more than anything else. Together we can -- and we must -- Save Kids Lives.
This is a long shot, but I'm looking for a woman that was at Tannehill Premier tonight seeing Cinderella at 7pm. I...
Posted by Kyesha Smith Wood on Friday, March 27, 2015
"I am the mom from the movie theatre. I had taken my daughter to see Cinderella. I was very upset and disappointed in the girls behavior...the note from their mom brought me to tears and shows there is [sic] still good people in the world. I have no hard feelings towards them and I am proud of their parents. The girls are not not bad...they are children. Glad they are learning a lesson. I hope if my teenagers are out and they act up...I hope someone says something to them."
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