New research shows facial expressions are planned by the brain before movement, not automatic emotional reactions.

Facial expression control starts in a very old part of the nervous system. In the brain stem sits the facial nucleus, which contains the motoneurons that directly control facial muscles.

Photo-Illustration by Chloe Dowling for TIME (Source Images: Klaus Vedfelt—Getty Images, Tim Robberts—Getty Images, Kelvin Murray—Getty Images, Robert Recker—Getty Images, Howard Kingsnorth—Getty ...

Humans are social beings, hardwired to navigate complex interactions through signals that communicate our internal states. Of all the channels we use to perceive emotion, the human face is arguably ...

Do you find it difficult to choose the perfect smiley-face emoji when trying to convey happy emotions in a text message? Although many emojis look very similar, it seems there are countless slightly ...