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| | | Leading Edge brings you the latest news from the world of science. Geoff Watts celebrates discoveries as soon as they're being talked about - on the internet, in coffee rooms and bars; often before they're published in journals. And he gets to grips with not just the science, but with the controversies and conversation that surround it.
[email protected] | | | | | LISTEN AGAIN 30 min | | | |
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| | PRESENTER | | | |
|  | | | | "If what interests you are new and exciting ideas, it's science you should be turning to. And whether it's the Human Genome Project or the origins of the Universe, Leading Edge is the place to hear about them."
Geoff Watts | | |
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|  | | | Spitting Cobra |
Does this snake scare you? If so, your facial expression is probably changing.
Confusion
Anyone watching you could be confused by your expression.
Particularly if they don't know why you're fearful.
A new study traces this confusion to a particular region of the brain.
Emotion
It’s all to with your amygdala – an almond shaped part of the brain, which is the centre for our emotions.
Seeing an angry face with an averted gaze elicits greater amygdala activity than an angry face looking directly at us.
Gaze-direction
Reginald Adams has combined the study of facial expressions and gaze-direction. This combination has a surprising impact on our amygdala.
So next time you feel confused about someone's facial expression, look out for the snake behind you!
Also in the programme
• New hope for spinal cord
regeneration
• An alternative way of making
vaccines
• The Earth could be older than
we thought
Join Geoff Watts to find out in this week's Leading Edge
Next week
• How nutrition in the womb
affects your health in later life
• Leonardo da Vinci gets to the
heart of the matter | | |
RELATED LINKS
Social Psychology at Harvard Uni
Test yourself at reading faces:
BBCi Science 'The Mind'
National Institute for Medical Research
Geoff Raisman
Moredun Research Institute - vaccines
Earth and Planetary Sciences, Harvard Uni
Stein Jacobsen
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