Now that News of the World has been shuttered in a scandal, what would we do without New Scientist for our dose? In “Are wide-faced men rascals?” (07 July 2011), Andy Coghlan manages a straight face, reporting,
Can it be true that men with extra-wide faces are more likely to be liars and cheats? That’s what a study published this week claims, but some researchers specialising in the evolution of trustworthiness have questioned the results.The study’s authors claim to have shown that men are most likely to cheat and lie if they have wider faces as measured by the facial width-to-height ratio, or WHR. Sceptics argue that the evidence supporting such a huge claim is weak, especially given that the conclusion could damage the reputations of the millions of men whose faces conform to the definition of “extra wide”.
At one time, there was science. Then there was Darwinism. Some day there’ll be science again.