A new website co-created by University of Illinois at Chicago Public Health professor S. Jay Olshansky analyzes pictures of people’s faces to project their expected life spans.
Entitled “Face My Age,” the website scans users’ uploaded photos and calculates life expectancy based on factors that include the appearance of face wrinkles and lip width, according to DNAinfo Chicago. Users are also asked to provide personal information, like if they smoke, use drugs or have had plastic surgery.
Olshansky created the website with the help of Karl Ricanek Jr., a face-recognition technology expert from the University of North Carolina Wilmington. The pair launched the site earlier this month, and it has amassed more than 220,000 uploads.
Olshanksy said that those who appear younger than their true age often have a longer life expectancy.
"How old you look actually is a risk factor for a variety of disease and disorders you may be facing," he said. "So if somebody told you you look young for your age, they’re probably right."
Try out Face My Age at FaceMyAge.com.
-Tom Butala