Avatars Help to 'Breed' The Perfect Body

Although the research is being conducted primarily to shed light on the physical traits that determine attractiveness, the scientists hope it will have other applications, such as helping people to dress according to their body shapes.

"We find that women are almost as likely to rate women as they are men, but men are much less likely to rate men than women," Brooks said.

The project was originally launched in March with only female bodies, but the same number of male bodies was recently added, alongside the second generation of female bodies.

Brooks said the biggest surprise has been the 64 responses from people living in Afghanistan.

"Further analysis will tell us if it is native Afghans or troops and peacekeepers," he said.