Now this is worrying -- according to a recent study, some 70% of recent U.S. Senate elections could be predicted on the basis of quick superficial judgments based on a candidate's face. Looking "competent" is apparently extremely important; such "competence" is chiefly decreed, in our minds, by the degree of "babyfacedness."

Babyfaced people, I'm afraid, are perceived to be lacking in all forms of competence -- intellectual, physical, social. Although studies have shown that babyfaced men tend to be more intelligent, better educated, more assertive and apt to win more military medals than their mature-looking counterparts.

I don't know about this; why should there be any connection at all? Maybe they try harder, because of the way people persist in perceiving them. Like women, really.