logo
episode-header-image
Feb 2017
27 m

Why am I left-handed?

Bbc World Service
About this episode

Neal Shepperson asks, "What determines left or right handedness and why are us lefties in the minority?"

One in ten people are left-handed, but where does this ratio come from and when did it appear in our evolutionary past?

Hannah talks to primatologist Prof Linda Marchant from Miami University about why Neanderthal teeth could hold the answer.

Prof Chris McManus from University College London tells Adam about his quest to track down the genes responsible for whether we're right or left handed.

But does left-handedness affect people’s brains and behaviour? Some researchers point to a link between left-handedness and impairments like autism or dyslexia. Others claim that lefties are more creative and artistic.

So where does the answer lie? The team consults Professors Sophie Scott, Chris McManus and Dorothy Bishop to find out the truth about left-handers.

If you have any Curious Cases for the team to investigate please email curiouscases@bbc.co.uk

Picture: Left handed child, credit: Diarmid Courreges/AFP/Getty Images

Presenter: Adam Rutherford & Hannah Fry

Producer: Michelle Martin.

Up next
Jun 22
The friendly virus
Our antibiotics are failing us. In 2025, the UK Government said antibiotic resistance (AMR) contributes to more than 35,000 deaths each year in the UK. Emergency doctors say they are losing patients on a regular basis when they run out of ways to treat them. Antibiotics have save ... Show More
26m 28s
Jun 15
The Life Scientific: Dean Lomax
Have you ever been told you aren't good enough to do something, then gone ahead and proved the naysayers wrong by doing it anyway - in glorious, headline-grabbing style? That is the satisfying story of Dr Dean Lomax. Dean grew up in Doncaster with a passion for fossils but after ... Show More
26m 29s
Jun 8
The Life Scientific: Helen Hastie
What if robots of the future weren’t just clever machines, performing tasks in isolation, but trusted teammates you could have a chat with? That could respond naturally to conversational cues and even explain their work? Making this relationship a reality is a focus for Helen Has ... Show More
26m 28s
Recommended Episodes
Nov 2021
Selects: Why Do Lefties Exist?
<p>For at least the last 200,000 years, between 10-15% of the human population are left-handed and this fact has utterly left science baffled. In searching to explain handedness, all sorts of contradictory evidence has emerged, creating a fascinating mystery. Learn all about it i ... Show More
40m 47s
Oct 2025
Lefties, righties and mixed-handers: The psychology of brain asymmetry, with Sebastian Ocklenburg, PhD
Left-handers make up about 10.6 percent of the world’s population. Sebastian Ocklenburg, PhD, talks about why handedness and other brain asymmetries exist; the genetic and environmental factors that influence handedness; whether there’s any truth to the stereotype that lefties ar ... Show More
36m 46s
Apr 2021
In which subject are left-handed people better than right-handed people?
Before we begin, you should know that there are approximately 930 million left-handed people in the world. But can dominant sides lead people to be better (or worse) in specific subjects? Actually yes. Left-handed individuals are better at mathematics. To reach this conclusion, r ... Show More
2m 22s
Feb 2018
Howard I. Kushner, “On the Other Hand: Left Hand, Right Brain, Mental Disorder, and History” (Johns Hopkins UP, 2017)
In the early twentieth century, Robert Hertz, a French anthropologist, and Cesare Lombroso, the Italian criminologist, debated the causes and consequences of left-handedness. According to Lombroso, left-handed individuals were more likely to be criminals. Hertz disagreed. For him ... Show More
49m 16s
Nov 2024
Why can’t I tell my left from my right?
Listener Piper called us up with this question, “Why do some people have a harder time than others distinguishing their left and right?” When our friends at the Vox podcast Unexplainable heard it they were so intrigued that they created a whole game show around it and invited our ... Show More
30m 4s
Apr 2014
Right Hand, Left Hand
How handedness spans the scientific world, from the smallest particles in the Universe to the drugs that cure disease and even the way you hold a pen, goes under the microscope this week as we explore the realms of asymmetry. Plus, in the news, the world's first synthetic chromos ... Show More
52m 11s
May 2025
Left Brain vs. Right Brain: which one are you?
There is actually a lot of difference between the left and right brain. Today we explain the science of brain hemispheric specialization - a fancy term for left brain vs. right brain science. There is a lot of myths in this neuroscience, but also some fascinating truths. It helps ... Show More
54m 26s