The physical attributes that underpin our first impressions and other news and views for Tuesday 29 July

Synthesized face-like images illustrating the changes in facial features that typify each of the three social trait dimensions

• How facial features drive our first impressions – “Whether it’s a curled lip or a keen cheekbone, we all make quick social judgements based on strangers’ faces. Now scientists have modelled the specific physical attributes that underpin our first impressions. Small changes in the dimensions of a face can make it appear more trustworthy, dominant or attractive. The results, published in the journal PNAS, could help film animators or anyone looking to create an instant impression on a social network. Dr Tom Hartley, a neuroscientist at the University of York and the study’s senior author, said the work added mathematical detail to a well-known phenomenon.”
• Transparency and central banking - More data, less gumption – “The Federal Reserve is ‘the most transparent central bank to my knowledge in the world,’ claims its chairwoman, Janet Yellen. Transparency is a commonly prescribed remedy for all manner of governmental failings. But is it always beneficial? A recent paper suggests that greater openness may turn central bankers into politicians, who show off their knowledge of economic data but are timid about recommending policy.”
• Anti-Semitism comes back to haunt Europe

• Where cats are more popular than dogs in the U.S.—and all over the world
• Are radicalised Britons fighting for Israel in Gaza? - “Robert Fisk asks: Is the Government interested in UK citizens who have been fighting in Israeli uniform in Gaza in the past couple of weeks?
• Australians fighting overseas: how the foreign incursion laws work – Paul Farrell writing for The Guardian last year explains why fighting with the Israeli (or Syrian, for that matter) army would not be an offence.
• China activists fight gay ‘conversion therapy’