Dr. Smith and co-authors from San Diego State University, the Getty Research Institute, and the Scripps Institution of Oceanography recently published a paper in PeerJ entitled: ‘Can we measure beauty? Computational evaluation of coral reef aesthetics.’

“Our results suggest that our perception of aesthetics is well-aligned with healthy, thriving ecosystems,” said Andreas Haas, an SDSU postdoctoral scholar and primary researcher of the study.

Check out this article and paper for more info!

Link to article: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-11/p-smt110415.php
Web Site: The authors have created a website where anyone can upload an image and get an aesthetic score back.
Link to the Published Version of the article: https://peerj.com/articles/1390
Citation to the article: Haas AF, Guibert M, Foerschner A, Co T, Calhoun S, George E, Hatay M, Dinsdale E, Sandin SA, Smith JE, Vermeij MJA, Felts B, Dustan P, Salamon P, Rohwer F. (2015) Can we measure beauty? Computational evaluation of coral reef aesthetics. PeerJ 3:e1390