The recently concluded 42nd International Film Festival of India had its share of good and bad films. While the Iranian, French and Polish films received wide acclaim, a refreshing feature of the festival was the large section of youth attending it, especially students of cinema, writes Ervell E. Menezes
So another film festival is done with, the eighth in Goa. The 42nd International Film Festival of India had its share of good films, and some bad ones. There were some good filmmakers like Frenchman Bertrand Tavernier, who deservedly got the Lifetime Achievement Award but failed to get a retrospective of his films. It must be said that to its credit, the Directorate of Film Festivals (DFF) managed to get some of the latest films on board.

The science of shopping
When customers walk into a designer store or a supermarket, what is their behaviour pattern while making their choice? This is what a software developed by Indian-origin scientists in America is trying to fathom, reports Miles O’Brien
Next time you go to a store, take a minute to look at the things that are trying to grab your attention. With so many products available and so many stores and websites, how do you decide what to buy and where to shop? Whether it’s convenience, good service or finding the best deals, store owners want to know what attracts you to their stores, and what it takes to keep you coming back. Turns out, there’s a science to all this.

Face value
Research has revealed why some people never seem to forget faces
Face recognition is an important social skill but not many of us are equally good at it, reveals a study. Researcher Jia Liu along with colleagues from Beijing Normal University have demonstrated how this skill is rooted in the unique way in which the mind perceives faces. "Individuals who process faces more holistically — that is, as an integrated whole — are better at face recognition," said Jia, the journal Psychological Science has reported.

Unplug to connect
Switch off your mobile phone at home and spend quality time with family members, writes Arvind Mehan
Recently I went to see my ENT specialist to get my hearing checked. It was quite normal except for a slight loss in the high frequency range. I immediately asked him if the high frequency bandwidth includes the female voice because my wife had been complaining that she had to repeat her words many times to get me to listen properly. He most certainly disagreed and said it was due to nothing else but lack of attentiveness. There went my excuse and I was disappointed.