Measuring skull shapes, but make it okay!

Getting measurements of peoples’ skulls gets an (understandably) bad rap. That’s because the practice has been used throughout history in service of a lot of pseudoscience and a helluva lot more racism. “No, we’re not being racist — it’s just that your skull is designed in a way that shows you’re a natural slave! See? It all makes sense.”

But what if there was a way to do phrenology and skull measurements, only with entirely innocent intentions? If there is, it appears that this young Irish student found it — by scientifically testing out the veracity of the phrase “the big Irish head on you.”