The Middle2009

Sue Heck:
After many attempts with multiple subjects, including family, friends, a Red Lobster waitress, and an unfriendly baby; I, unfortunately, was unable to prove my hypothesis. However, like many scientists before me, I refuse to admit defeat. It took Einstein ten years to prove E=mc2, and if it takes me that long to prove smiling is contagious, then I am up for the challenge, for I believe there are some things that defy logic.

Sue Heck:
French anatomist Duchenne wrote that joy is expressed on the face by contraction of the muscles but it can only be put in play by the sweet emotions of the soul.

Sue Heck:
And Duchenne had a whole smile named after him. Think of the smiles over the years that have inspired a whole world to happiness: Mona Lisa's, Justin Bieber's. Some might laugh at me, I know, just as they laughed at John Gurdon. He was told in high school that he would never be a scientist. He just won the Nobel Prize. I guess it just proves that being dismissed by people who think they know better is not an obstacle to winning a Nobel Prize. So I will continue with my research, one smile at a time, until I prove that smiling is contagious, 'cause I don't want to live in a world where it isn't.