This Computer Can Tell When People Are Faking Pain

You can tell when someone's faking a smile or pretending to be in pain, right? But computer scientists think they can build systems that do it even better. There's already a Google Glass app in beta testing that claims to provide a real-time readout of the emotional expressions of people in your field of view. And a new study finds that the same technology can detect fake expressions of pain with 85% accuracy -- far better than people can, even with practice. Granted, the study was done in a carefully controlled laboratory setting, not a messy real-world situation like a dive bar during last call, but the findings still look impressive.