left handed news stories on Newser

Bad News for Lefties: You Have More Health Risks

Evann Gastaldo — Tue, 06 Dec 2011 10:34:05 CST

About 10% of the population is left-handed, but a disproportionate amount of people with schizophrenia—20%—are lefties. Schizophrenia is just one of a number of psychiatric and developmental disorders that are more common in left-handed people, including dyslexia, ADHD, language difficulties, and mood disorders. Researchers think this could have...

Most Parrots Are Lefties

Evann Gastaldo — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 12:16:24 CST

Parrots are left-handed … or at least, as left-handed as you can be when you don’t actually have hands. Australian researchers discovered that, like humans, nearly all parrots prefer to use one side of their body over the other: either their left eye and left foot, or right eye and...

Lefties Finally Get Their Undies

Evann Gastaldo — Wed, 23 Sep 2009 10:07:00 CDT

Male lefties of the world have long suffered inconvenience and embarrassment at the urinal, thanks to their underwear. One British store is making up for the indignity with a new line of undies featuring a horizontal, rather than vertical, opening—giving Britain’s lefties an alternative to boxer shorts, Reuters reports....

Obama Stokes Lefty Pride In More Ways Than You Think

Drew Nelles — Thu, 22 Jan 2009 14:08:01 CST

Barack Obama’s inauguration continues the lefty domination of the White House—after all, five other postwar presidents have been southpaws, too, MSNBC reports. Only about a tenth of the population is left-handed, but that includes a disproportionate number of politicians, athletes, and artists. “From a statistical standpoint, it looks like...

Left-Handed Men Earn More: Study

Rob Quinn — Sat, 29 Nov 2008 04:27:20 CST

Left-handed men earn an average of 5% more than right-handed men, two British and Irish studies have discovered. The studies found that southpaw males tended to do worse in school—possibly because of trouble adapting to a right-handed world—but were more successful as adults. Female lefties, however, did worse...

A Lefty Will Be President

Nick McMaster — Fri, 04 Jul 2008 20:07:00 CDT

No matter what happens in November, a left-hander will take the White House. In fact, five of the last seven presidents have been southpaws. While left-handedness has been taken as a sign of everything from artistic talent to brain damage, ambidexterity may be a desirable quality in a leader. Left-handedness...

Lefty Gene Found, Linked to Mental Illness

Heather McPherson — Tue, 31 Jul 2007 16:35:05 CDT

A gene that increases the likelihood of left-handedness also boosts the risk of mental illnesses like schizophrenia, the BBC reports. Lefties’ brains often differ from righties’ in the location of controls for speech and emotions, scientists say, and the newly pinpointed gene appears to catalyze the switch.