Babies born with eye for beauty

A beautiful woman walks past and men stop and stare.

Today, however, scientists may have cleared the men of accusations of leering. A team from Exeter University says our brains are hard-wired from birth to appreciate beauty.

Researchers found that even newborn babies stared intently at beautiful women. The babies in the experiment were only two days old, but their preference for a pretty face was clear.

"We simply cut out faces staring at the camera from women's magazines," said Dr Alan Slater, who led the study.

"They were all models, rated as very attractive by a control group of adults." Their pictures were paired with photographs of " ordinary" women.

On being shown a beautiful and average picture side by side, some of the babies spent 90 per cent of their time staring at the pictures of beautiful women.

Dr Slater said: "This seems to show us that an appreciation of beauty is hard-wired into our brains. Every baby and adult preferred the beautiful picture."