Only 10 to 15 percent of people are left-handed. @popsci@flipboard.com explains the science behind it. Does the fediverse mirror the world? Vote in our poll!

https://flip.it/TdSpII

#Science #Biology #Evolution #Handedness #Genetics

I am right-handed
72%
I am left-handed
17.3%
I am ambidextrous
8.2%
Something else — explain in the comments
2.5%
Poll ended at .
Why are most people right-handed?

A mix of biology, environment, and evolution helps explain our rightie-dominated world.

Popular Science

Left- and right-handed people process high-speed visual information on opposite sides of the brain, but process high-speed auditory information on the same side of the brain.

Summary: https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-08-daily-actions-righties-lefties-visual.html

Original paper: https://psycnet.apa.org/doiLanding?doi=10.1037%2Fxge0001806

#Science #Biology #Handedness #Vision #Hearing

Daily actions can shape how righties vs. lefties process visual input

Imagine hammering a nail into a wall: Your dominant hand swings the hammer while the other holds the nail steady. In a new theory, Cornell psychology scholars propose that everyday tasks like this are responsible for a fundamental aspect of perception in the brain: why one side is specialized to process high-frequency visual information, and the other low frequencies.

Medical Xpress

Left- or mixed-handed? New research links non-right-handedness to early-onset neurological disorders like autism and dyslexia. #Handedness #NeurologicalResearch #BrainDevelopment

https://geekoo.news/left-handedness-linked-to-early-onset-neurological-disorders/

I hurt my hand on Sunday and now working with my left hand. Not withstanding I'm not used to using my left hand for everything, more things than I thought are designed for right hand use only...

#lefty #righty #handedness

Mildly interesting: most physical devices that have handedness assume you'll be using them with your right hand. Handheld radios and walkie-talkies assume the opposite.

#radio #ham #AmateurRadio #handedness

@DavidM_yeg @futurebird

I started playing the violin after retirement. As a lefty, I struggled for a long time to maintain the correct bow hold while keeping a relaxed wrist. Then one day I happened to pick up the bow with my left hand, and automatically held it correctly, even though I had never done it before. Somehow the skill transferred between hands....

#violin #handedness

… because I had unknowingly made a very obvious error in my logic about the cause of my elder's hand problems.

See, if I get too fatigued when hand sawing something, I simply switch hands and use the other to saw. Lots of us #Lefties can do that and never think twice about it.

But my elder was right-handed, as as is common for such folk, staunchly so. There would be no hand-switching for tools, yet both hands were equally as damaged.

18/x

#handedness
#dx

Do any #sports have this kind of ambidextrous standard today? From the 1923 Women's Olympiad:

"Each athlete in the shot put and javelin throw events threw using their right hand, then their left. Their final mark was the total of the best mark with their right-handed throw and the best mark with their left-handed throw."

#sports #handedness #shotput #javelin #1920s #Olympics

Left-Handedness and Neurodiversity: A Surprising Link

Is neurodiversity linked to left-handedness? Studies show a clear picture.

Psychology Today