Science offers a cure for the common frown

Tokyo is easily the world's most polite city, thanks to a long-standing Japanese belief that 'the customer is king.' Even fast food workers tend to bow and flash their pearly whites to customers -- rather than dispassionately berate them, as has become the norm in other countries.

Keikyu Railways, however, was not willing to accept the local standard of superior service. Management decided they needed the peppiest workforce possible to survive this economy. But morning lectures on cheerfulness would not be enough: Keikyu needed the aid of science.

So, as this CNN report shows, Keikyu has embraced the latest in facial recognition software to help employees' measure their own smiles according to a mathematical scale. This system has allowed female station attendant Kiyomi Ogiwara to get her smile down pat. Her male colleague featured in the video has not quite succeeded to the same degree, but thanks to this amazing technology, may be able to one day smile in a natural and plausible way.

This software has endless potential to help companies shape their workers' facial expressions. High-end fashion boutiques and exclusive designer label shops will someday be able march their clerks in front of the sensors each morning to guarantee the kind of 100pt. grimace that says 'luxury goods.'