Un Con Troll Able
03-22-2006, 10:39 AM
2 hours, 18 minutes ago
Can openers, scissors and spiral-bound notebooks discriminate against lefties. Despite such challenges, 10 to 12 percent of the human population has historically preferred the left hand.
Why doesn't the number ever waiver? Nobody knows for sure, but new research supports a body of evidence that suggests genetics have a hand in it all.
In the meantime, the myth remains that lefties are more artistic. And the idea that left-handed fighters have an advantage persists on scant evidence, supported by Scottish lore and Rocky Balboa's heroics in the ring.
Look, Mom: Both hands!
Like many traits, handedness is probably determined by a complex interaction between genes and the environment, experts figure.
Left-handers are more likely to have a left-handed relative. But researchers have yet to find the gene or set of genes that pick one hand over the other.
Most scientists agree that handedness exists on a continuum. The idea helps explain why some people bowl with their left but hold a spoon in their right. Truly ambidextrous people, who have indifferent preference for either hand, are extremely rare.
In a new study, researchers measured the width of elbows in living people and in skeletons from a medieval British farming community.
The researchers assumed the 9-to-1 ratio of handedness would match the ratio of bigger right to left elbows. The prediction held true in the modern-day group, but not for the medieval bones.
Most of the ancient farmers' left and right elbows were the same size.
"It's obvious that they were using both hands equally," said anthropologist Amanda Blackburn from the University of Manitoba. "It's not fair to say they were ambidextrous in the true sense of the word, but they may have had a tendency to use both hands equally. It's a behavior they may have learned rather than just being born like that."
The findings will be published in the April issue of the journal Current Anthropology.
Oppressing the left
Lefties have long suffered. In India and Indonesia, eating with the left hand is considered impolite. Chinese characters prove extremely difficult to write with the left hand. Not so long ago, teachers slapped the wrists of left-handed American elementary students.
Humans have shown the ability to learn to use their non-preferred hand after injuries, when required to perform manual labor, or in the face of cultural pressure.
Yet preference for handedness appears to take root in the womb, or even earlier.
One genetic model, called the right shift theory and developed by psychologist Marian Annett at the University of Leicester, suggests that a single gene increases the likelihood of being right-handed.
"The essence of my right shift theory is that there is a gene that helps to develop speech in the left hemisphere of the brain and increases the probability of right-handedness," Annett told LiveScience.
Whatever evolutionary jog made humans left-brain dominant for speech also made us right-side dominant, Annett argues. Since our closest relatives—chimpanzees—can't talk, the gene must have arisen in recent evolutionary history. One study found most chimps prefer to fish for termites with their left hand. But other recent research shows most chimpanzees favor their right hand when throwing overhand.
"The prevailing genetic model seems to be pretty strong. There are only a few weak points that are yet to be addressed. Not only can they not pinpoint a gene, there's conflicting data out there too," said David Wolman, author of "A Left Hand Turn Around the World" (Da Capo Press, 2005).
I'm a lefty. You right-handed people have no idea how much discrimination we lefties have to deal with every day. Just try to go to a store to buy a left-handed catchers mitt--or a pair of left-handed scissors, or a spiral notebook for lefties, etc., etc., etc. We end up having to learn how to do some things right-handed.
Famous lefties:
We've had a few baddies, but for the most part it is a very impressive list--considering we make up only about 10 percent of the humanity. And the list is far from complete (I had to cut it down greatly).
Joan of Arc
<!--(~1412-1431)-->Benjamin Franklin
Ramses II
Tiberius
Alexander the Great <!--356-323 B.C.-->
Charlemagne
Julius Caesar
Napoléon Bonaparte <!--(1754-1793)-->
Queen Victoria of England <!--(1819-1901)-->
Benjamin Netanyahu
Henry Ford
David Rockefeller
Helen Keller
Dr. Albert Schweitzer
Edwin Buzz Aldrin
Wally Schirra
Paul Prudhomme, chef
Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts<!--(1857-1941)-->
Dave Barry, journalist <!--(1948- ) U.S.-->
Edward R. Murrow, correspondent <!--(1908-1965)-->
Ron Reagan, son of Ronald Reagan
Vin Scully
David Letterman
Jay Leno <!--Canadian-->
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf <!--Schwarzhkopt?-->
Clarence Darrow, lawyer
Alan Funt, television producer <!--Candid Camera-->
Matt Groening, cartoonist (The Simpsons)<!--?-->
Pat Robertson
John Dillinger
Boston Strangler (Albert Henry DeSalvo), serial killer <!--(1931- 1973)-->
Jack-the-Ripper
<!--Billy the Kid (William Bonney), outlaw (1859-1881), per Mike Gee <mefgee@dklb.net>, old photo was reversed origin of mistake-->Peter Benchley <!--(1940- ) U.S.-->
Lewis Carroll <!--(1832-1898) British-->
Mark Twain <!--(1835-1910)-->
H.G. Wells
Michelangelo <!--(1475-1564) Italian painter/sculptor-->
LeRoy Neiman
<!--Pablo Picasso NOT left-handed, per 2 Picasso scholars: Mark James <markjames@postmaster.co.uk> and Dr. Jakub Marek <drjakubmarek@seznam.cz> -->Raphael <!--(1483-1520) Italian painter-->
Leonardo da Vinci
George Burns
Sid Caesar
Charlie Chaplin <!--British-->
Tom Cruise
Olivia de Havilland
Robert DeNiro
Richard Dreyfuss
W.C. Fields
Betty Grable
Cary Grant
Rex Harrison <!--British-->
Michael Landon
Peter Lawford
Shirley MacLaine
Steve McQueen
Marcel Marceau
Harpo Marx
Marilyn Monroe
Rod Steiger
Dick Van Dyke
Bruce Willis
Phil Esposito
Earl Anthony (bowling)
The rest of this left-wing story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060322/sc_space/whatmakesaleftymythsandmysteriespersist
Can openers, scissors and spiral-bound notebooks discriminate against lefties. Despite such challenges, 10 to 12 percent of the human population has historically preferred the left hand.
Why doesn't the number ever waiver? Nobody knows for sure, but new research supports a body of evidence that suggests genetics have a hand in it all.
In the meantime, the myth remains that lefties are more artistic. And the idea that left-handed fighters have an advantage persists on scant evidence, supported by Scottish lore and Rocky Balboa's heroics in the ring.
Look, Mom: Both hands!
Like many traits, handedness is probably determined by a complex interaction between genes and the environment, experts figure.
Left-handers are more likely to have a left-handed relative. But researchers have yet to find the gene or set of genes that pick one hand over the other.
Most scientists agree that handedness exists on a continuum. The idea helps explain why some people bowl with their left but hold a spoon in their right. Truly ambidextrous people, who have indifferent preference for either hand, are extremely rare.
In a new study, researchers measured the width of elbows in living people and in skeletons from a medieval British farming community.
The researchers assumed the 9-to-1 ratio of handedness would match the ratio of bigger right to left elbows. The prediction held true in the modern-day group, but not for the medieval bones.
Most of the ancient farmers' left and right elbows were the same size.
"It's obvious that they were using both hands equally," said anthropologist Amanda Blackburn from the University of Manitoba. "It's not fair to say they were ambidextrous in the true sense of the word, but they may have had a tendency to use both hands equally. It's a behavior they may have learned rather than just being born like that."
The findings will be published in the April issue of the journal Current Anthropology.
Oppressing the left
Lefties have long suffered. In India and Indonesia, eating with the left hand is considered impolite. Chinese characters prove extremely difficult to write with the left hand. Not so long ago, teachers slapped the wrists of left-handed American elementary students.
Humans have shown the ability to learn to use their non-preferred hand after injuries, when required to perform manual labor, or in the face of cultural pressure.
Yet preference for handedness appears to take root in the womb, or even earlier.
One genetic model, called the right shift theory and developed by psychologist Marian Annett at the University of Leicester, suggests that a single gene increases the likelihood of being right-handed.
"The essence of my right shift theory is that there is a gene that helps to develop speech in the left hemisphere of the brain and increases the probability of right-handedness," Annett told LiveScience.
Whatever evolutionary jog made humans left-brain dominant for speech also made us right-side dominant, Annett argues. Since our closest relatives—chimpanzees—can't talk, the gene must have arisen in recent evolutionary history. One study found most chimps prefer to fish for termites with their left hand. But other recent research shows most chimpanzees favor their right hand when throwing overhand.
"The prevailing genetic model seems to be pretty strong. There are only a few weak points that are yet to be addressed. Not only can they not pinpoint a gene, there's conflicting data out there too," said David Wolman, author of "A Left Hand Turn Around the World" (Da Capo Press, 2005).
I'm a lefty. You right-handed people have no idea how much discrimination we lefties have to deal with every day. Just try to go to a store to buy a left-handed catchers mitt--or a pair of left-handed scissors, or a spiral notebook for lefties, etc., etc., etc. We end up having to learn how to do some things right-handed.
Famous lefties:
We've had a few baddies, but for the most part it is a very impressive list--considering we make up only about 10 percent of the humanity. And the list is far from complete (I had to cut it down greatly).
Joan of Arc
<!--(~1412-1431)-->Benjamin Franklin
Ramses II
Tiberius
Alexander the Great <!--356-323 B.C.-->
Charlemagne
Julius Caesar
Napoléon Bonaparte <!--(1754-1793)-->
Queen Victoria of England <!--(1819-1901)-->
Benjamin Netanyahu
Henry Ford
David Rockefeller
Helen Keller
Dr. Albert Schweitzer
Edwin Buzz Aldrin
Wally Schirra
Paul Prudhomme, chef
Lord Baden-Powell, founder of the Boy Scouts<!--(1857-1941)-->
Dave Barry, journalist <!--(1948- ) U.S.-->
Edward R. Murrow, correspondent <!--(1908-1965)-->
Ron Reagan, son of Ronald Reagan
Vin Scully
David Letterman
Jay Leno <!--Canadian-->
General H. Norman Schwarzkopf <!--Schwarzhkopt?-->
Clarence Darrow, lawyer
Alan Funt, television producer <!--Candid Camera-->
Matt Groening, cartoonist (The Simpsons)<!--?-->
Pat Robertson
John Dillinger
Boston Strangler (Albert Henry DeSalvo), serial killer <!--(1931- 1973)-->
Jack-the-Ripper
<!--Billy the Kid (William Bonney), outlaw (1859-1881), per Mike Gee <mefgee@dklb.net>, old photo was reversed origin of mistake-->Peter Benchley <!--(1940- ) U.S.-->
Lewis Carroll <!--(1832-1898) British-->
Mark Twain <!--(1835-1910)-->
H.G. Wells
Michelangelo <!--(1475-1564) Italian painter/sculptor-->
LeRoy Neiman
<!--Pablo Picasso NOT left-handed, per 2 Picasso scholars: Mark James <markjames@postmaster.co.uk> and Dr. Jakub Marek <drjakubmarek@seznam.cz> -->Raphael <!--(1483-1520) Italian painter-->
Leonardo da Vinci
George Burns
Sid Caesar
Charlie Chaplin <!--British-->
Tom Cruise
Olivia de Havilland
Robert DeNiro
Richard Dreyfuss
W.C. Fields
Betty Grable
Cary Grant
Rex Harrison <!--British-->
Michael Landon
Peter Lawford
Shirley MacLaine
Steve McQueen
Marcel Marceau
Harpo Marx
Marilyn Monroe
Rod Steiger
Dick Van Dyke
Bruce Willis
Phil Esposito
Earl Anthony (bowling)
The rest of this left-wing story:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20060322/sc_space/whatmakesaleftymythsandmysteriespersist