Say Cheese (or Get Divorced?)

Matthew Hertenstein, a psychology professor at DePauw University in Greencastle, Ind. and three colleagues recruited more than 600 people for a review of their college yearbook photos. The researchers rated the yearbook smiles by coding muscle movements around the mouth and the eyes.

The researchers found a surprising correlation: the less people smiled, the more likely they were to later divorce. The effect was statistically significant, though not huge. But when Hertenstein compared the top 10 percent of brightest smilers with the bottom 10 percent of weakest smilers, the "lowest were five times more likely to be divorced than the top."

[http://www.nytimes.com/projects/magazine/ideas/2009/#p-1]

"I want a divorce." "Let's go to Malaysia first."

A Malaysian state government says it plans to offer free honeymoons to save the marriages of couples who are on the brink of divorce.

Ashaari Idris, a government official in northern Terengganu state, says troubled couples will be allowed to spend two nights at the state's scenic islands or beach resorts to help them rekindle their romance under a "Second Honeymoon" program.

Ashaari says the state government hopes to launch the plan soon "to resolve marital problems and to create models of exemplary families."

He said Monday that couples who enroll in the program must also undergo counseling.

[http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/10/12/second-honeymoon-program-_n_317168.html]