The faces issue

Know someone’s face, and you know who they are. Sure, you know what they look like, but their face is also the closest thing you have to a window into their mind. A facial expression can tell you what they think and feel, even when sometimes they would rather keep it hidden. Faces help us socialise, bond with people and even find love.

In this issue you’ll find out how much faces help computer science. You’ll read about the face space in our brains, robotic faces that mimic human emotion and the tricks that faces play on us. There are stories about faces on the Internet, on clocks and in the Earth. All humans are natural face experts – even babies an hour old can recognise a face – but here’s your chance to find out even more.