Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Illness is written all over your face

Subtle visual cues allow us to distinguish sick from well.
Averaged images of 16 sick (L) and healthy (R) individuals

Composite images of 16 people who either had been injected with a bacterial molecule that spurs an immune response (‘sick’, left) or were healthy (right). Credit: Audrey Henderson/J. Axelsson et al./Proc. R. Soc. B

People can recognize subtle differences in the appearance of the skin, mouth and eyes as signs of disease.

Access options

Rent or buy this article

Prices vary by article type

from$1.95

to$39.95

Learn more

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Nature 553, 131 (2018)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-00125-2

References

Subjects

Latest on:

Nature Careers

Jobs

Nature Briefing

Sign up for the Nature Briefing newsletter — what matters in science, free to your inbox daily.

Get the most important science stories of the day, free in your inbox. Sign up for Nature Briefing

Search

Advanced search

Quick links