People who can pick out a face in a crowd like a computer searching its data bank are increasingly being sought by businesses and governments.
Super-recognisers can identify people they may have met only once years ago or have seen only in photographs.
For some, it helps make a business-winning connection with a new client, while others can identify adult photos of people with whom they went to school.
As more research takes place, it is looking as if super-recognisers have a DNA advantage, rather than it being a learned skill that can be honed.
Now a team at the Forensic Psychology Lab at UNSW Sydney is setting out to identify the world’s best super-recognisers.
The team has developed an online Face Test system that has been used 31,000 times since 2017 to identify super-recognisers.
UNSW is planning studies to find out how the super-recognisers process faces and how the brain reacts.
Governments and commercial organisations are searching for people with superior face-recognition abilities.
It was previously believed that improving facial recognition skills could be taught, as a way of helping police and security services make more accurate judgments about a person's identity.
While teaching is possible to a point, it is now accepted that genes and DNA play a key role.
"What we've found is that face recognition varies naturally, like IQ does. And just like IQ, it appears that a large proportion of that variance is genetically determined," said Dr James Dunn, from UNSW.
"We are starting to see industries looking within and outside of their organisations for super-recognisers to work in specialised face-identification roles," he said. "This can include police, but may also include government and commercial bodies like immigration, intelligence agencies, security agencies, financial institutions, even casinos."
Only 1 or 2 per cent of the population are thought to be super-recognisers.
Nicole told UNSW she was 11 years old when she realised she could recognise all her teachers' baby faces in a competition at her school.
"When everyone else was struggling to find just a couple of faces they knew, I correctly identified all 20 faces very easily. At the time I thought it was strange, but it felt super cool, too," she said.
Duncan said being a super-recogniser helped him as a recruiter. "People are always extremely flattered when you remember them, or if we haven't actually met in person and I've only seen their picture on social media they are usually pretty shocked."
But others are more cautious about showing off their ability.
Sallie resorts to hiding her skill. "I often have to lie that I've never met or seen people before," she said. "It freaks them out. ‘Oh, I saw you last week at Woolworths' makes you sound like a stalker."
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Directors: Madeline Sharafian, Domee Shi, Adrian Molina
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Look north
BBC business reporters, like a new raft of government officials, are being removed from the national and international hub of London and surely the quality of their work must suffer.
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Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
AT%20A%20GLANCE
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How Tesla’s price correction has hit fund managers
Investing in disruptive technology can be a bumpy ride, as investors in Tesla were reminded on Friday, when its stock dropped 7.5 per cent in early trading to $575.
It recovered slightly but still ended the week 15 per cent lower and is down a third from its all-time high of $883 on January 26. The electric car maker’s market cap fell from $834 billion to about $567bn in that time, a drop of an astonishing $267bn, and a blow for those who bought Tesla stock late.
The collapse also hit fund managers that have gone big on Tesla, notably the UK-based Scottish Mortgage Investment Trust and Cathie Wood’s ARK Innovation ETF.
Tesla is the top holding in both funds, making up a hefty 10 per cent of total assets under management. Both funds have fallen by a quarter in the past month.
Matt Weller, global head of market research at GAIN Capital, recently warned that Tesla founder Elon Musk had “flown a bit too close to the sun”, after getting carried away by investing $1.5bn of the company’s money in Bitcoin.
He also predicted Tesla’s sales could struggle as traditional auto manufacturers ramp up electric car production, destroying its first mover advantage.
AJ Bell’s Russ Mould warns that many investors buy tech stocks when earnings forecasts are rising, almost regardless of valuation. “When it works, it really works. But when it goes wrong, elevated valuations leave little or no downside protection.”
A Tesla correction was probably baked in after last year’s astonishing share price surge, and many investors will see this as an opportunity to load up at a reduced price.
Dramatic swings are to be expected when investing in disruptive technology, as Ms Wood at ARK makes clear.
Every week, she sends subscribers a commentary listing “stocks in our strategies that have appreciated or dropped more than 15 per cent in a day” during the week.
Her latest commentary, issued on Friday, showed seven stocks displaying extreme volatility, led by ExOne, a leader in binder jetting 3D printing technology. It jumped 24 per cent, boosted by news that fellow 3D printing specialist Stratasys had beaten fourth-quarter revenues and earnings expectations, seen as good news for the sector.
By contrast, computational drug and material discovery company Schrödinger fell 27 per cent after quarterly and full-year results showed its core software sales and drug development pipeline slowing.
Despite that setback, Ms Wood remains positive, arguing that its “medicinal chemistry platform offers a powerful and unique view into chemical space”.
In her weekly video view, she remains bullish, stating that: “We are on the right side of change, and disruptive innovation is going to deliver exponential growth trajectories for many of our companies, in fact, most of them.”
Ms Wood remains committed to Tesla as she expects global electric car sales to compound at an average annual rate of 82 per cent for the next five years.
She said these are so “enormous that some people find them unbelievable”, and argues that this scepticism, especially among institutional investors, “festers” and creates a great opportunity for ARK.
Only you can decide whether you are a believer or a festering sceptic. If it’s the former, then buckle up.
BIO
Favourite holiday destination: Turkey - because the government look after animals so well there.
Favourite film: I love scary movies. I have so many favourites but The Ring stands out.
Favourite book: The Lord of the Rings. I didn’t like the movies but I loved the books.
Favourite colour: Black.
Favourite music: Hard rock. I actually also perform as a rock DJ in Dubai.
Brahmastra%3A%20Part%20One%20-%20Shiva
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The specs
The specs: 2019 Audi Q8
Price, base: Dh315,000
Engine: 3.0-litre turbocharged V6
Gearbox: Eight-speed automatic
Power: 340hp @ 3,500rpm
Torque: 500Nm @ 2,250rpm
Fuel economy, combined: 6.7L / 100km
Results
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EStage%202%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E1.%20Soudal%E2%80%93Quick-Step%20-%2018%E2%80%9911%E2%80%9D%3Cbr%3E2.%20EF%20Education%20%E2%80%93%20EasyPost%20-%201%22%3Cbr%3E3.%20Ineos%20Grenadiers%20-%203%22%3Cbr%3E%3Cstrong%3EGeneral%20classification%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%3Cbr%3E1.%20Lucas%20Plapp%20(AUS)%20Ineos%20Grenadiers%3Cbr%3E2.%20Remco%20Evenepoel%20(BEL)%20Soudal%E2%80%93Quick-Step%20-%20ST%3Cbr%3E3.%20Nikias%20Arndt%20(GER)%20Bahrain%20Victorious%20-%203%22%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
Jetour T1 specs
Engine: 2-litre turbocharged
Power: 254hp
Torque: 390Nm
Price: From Dh126,000
Available: Now
The Sand Castle
Director: Matty Brown
Stars: Nadine Labaki, Ziad Bakri, Zain Al Rafeea, Riman Al Rafeea
Rating: 2.5/5
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The%20specs
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Scorecard
Scotland 220
K Coetzer 95, J Siddique 3-49, R Mustafa 3-35
UAE 224-3 in 43,5 overs
C Suri 67, B Hameed 63 not out
GAC GS8 Specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 248hp at 5,200rpm
Torque: 400Nm at 1,750-4,000rpm
Transmission: 8-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 9.1L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh149,900
The bio
His favourite book - 1984 by George Orwell
His favourite quote - 'If you think education is expensive, try ignorance' by Derek Bok, Former President of Harvard
Favourite place to travel to - Peloponnese, Southern Greece
Favourite movie - The Last Emperor
Favourite personality from history - Alexander the Great
Role Model - My father, Yiannis Davos
