Researchers at the famous University of Cambridge taught sheep to recognize four famous people. They wanted to learn more about how sheep use their brains.

The training took only a few days. Researchers learned that sheep can recognize faces about as well as monkeys and people can.

The team trained the British sheep to recognize four faces. These faces belonged to Obama, British newscaster Fiona Bruce, and actors Emma Watson and Jake Gyllenhaal.

I wanted to use people that the sheep had not met,” said Jenny Morton. She led the research team.

Morton studies Huntington’s disease. That is a brain illness that affects people. Morton uses sheep brains as models for human brains.

Seven years ago, Morton bought eight ewes, or female sheep, off the back of a truck. They were going to be killed. Instead, they are helping to move Morton’s research forward.

The sheep went through three tests. They looked at two screens.

In the first test, one screen was black. The other showed a picture of one of the four famous people. If a sheep went up to the picture within 15 seconds, the sheep won a snack from the testing machine.

In the second test, the sheep saw a picture of an object on one screen. The object was about the size of a head, but had no face. The other screen showed a famous person.

The third test had pictures of two faces. One was the face of a stranger. The other was the face of a famous person.

12. In each test, the sheep had to pick out the famous person to get a treat. On average, the sheep picked the famous person 8 out of 10 times. That is an 80% success rate.

The sheep were trained using forward-facing photos. A later test used photos that were moved to the side, or photos of the stars with different hairstyles. The animals’ success rate dropped by 15 percent. That’s about the same rate that humans score.

In another test, the sheep easily picked out photos of the people who cared for them. They could recognize the people they knew even in flat photos.

You can watch the test online at tinyurl.com/nfysheep .

News for You, December 6, 2017

Barber Helps Kids with Autism Enjoy Getting Haircuts

In 2015, Francis Jacob opened his barbershop. It is in Quebec, Canada.

One day, he met Fauve Lafrentere. The 30-year-old mother had a question for him. Would he try to cut her son’s hair?

Her 4-year-old son, Wyatt, had autism. He hated getting haircuts.

I took the challenge and I succeeded,” Jacob said. He now gives haircuts to other kids with autism.

Autism is a disorder of the brain. Some kids with autism have trouble relating to other people. Some have trouble with senses, like touch and sound.

Some autistic kids hate the feeling of hands in their hair and the noise of scissors. Wyatt hated having his hair touched.

Jacob had no training in helping kids with autism. So he took the haircut slowly.

I just went with the emotions of the moment,” he said.

Jacob and Wyatt ate candy. Jacob let Wyatt put on music. They walked around the shop. They talked and played. Sometimes Wyatt sat in a chair. Sometimes he lay on the floor.

Jacob followed and cut the boy’s hair a little at a time. Ninety minutes later, Wyatt left with a good haircut. He also had a smile on his face.

Wyatt’s mother was very happy.

Lafreniere praised Jacob all around town. She even posted a photo of Jacob and Wyatt online. Other parents started to bring their autistic kids in for cuts. The photo spread across the internet.

All this attention from around the world is quite something for me and Wyatt’s mom.” Jacob said.

The haircuts are still going well. The key to Jacob’s success is fun.

15. “We sit around, eat candy, listen to some punk music,” he said. “The kids want to come back after, because they are having fun.”

A barber in Wales agrees with Jacob’s methods. James Williams set up the groupd Autism Barbers Assemble. He teaches barbers how to cut hair for children with autism.

17. “I’ll cut a child’s hair anywhere lying one the floor, sitting on the sofa…on the windowsill, even in a car,” he said.

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