Scientists have answered why 9 out of every 10 people write with their right hand.
Have you ever wondered why 9 out of every 10 people in this world write, eat or do any work with their right hand? 90% of the world’s population being ‘right-handed’ has been one of the biggest mysteries of humans. For centuries, scientists were looking for the reason behind this, is it because of our eating habits? Is it because of society? Or because of the use of tools?
Now a new and shocking study from Oxford University has exposed this secret. Scientists say that the answer lies not in our hands, but in our feet and our brains! Let us understand very clearly that what story of our evolution does this ‘right-handedness’ of us humans tell.”
Difference between humans and monkeys, what does research say?
According to a recent report published in the journal ‘PLOS Biology’, scientists from the University of Oxford and the University of Reading conducted a huge research to understand the straight-handedness of humans. They analyzed data from 2,025 monkeys and chimpanzees from 41 different species.
Spider Monkey.
Scientists have found that spider monkeys have the habit of using the hand of their choice to some extent, but humans are unique in the whole world in this matter. If we look at scientists’ Mean Handedness Index, where a positive number means straight handedness, all other primates fall around zero – meaning they use both hands almost equally. But humans score 0.76 on this index! Which is extremely shocking and excessive.”
Those two factors that solved the mystery!
Initially scientists tested many theories behind this. They looked at whether food habits, living environment, body weight, social structure or use of tools make humans right-handed? But humans proved to be an ‘outlier’ in every test.
The twist came when scientists added two new factors to their research model – first, the size of our brain and second, the ‘Intermembral Index’ i.e. the ratio of the length of our arms and legs!
in research The size of the brain and the ratio of the length of arms and legs were observed.
As soon as these two things were included in the research, this mysterious ‘right-handed’ pattern of humans was completely understood. The legs of us humans are much longer than our hands, which is a sign of our walking upright.
The lead researcher of this study is Dr. Thomas A. According to Pushell, our being right-handed is linked to two of our most important human traits: our ability to walk upright and the development of our large brains. When our ancestors came down from the trees and started walking directly on the ground on two legs, both our hands became completely free. Due to walking straight, the balance of the body changed and this strength of the legs gave us the opportunity to make one hand more ‘specialized’ than the other hand.
18 lakh years old evidence!
Well, humans’ love for straight hands is nothing new. History and archeology have strong evidence for this. The jawbone of 1.8 million year old ‘Homo habilis’ found in Tanzania shows that his front teeth had straight lines inclined towards the hand. This is evidence that he used his hands directly while processing food or anything else. Not only this, for the last 5 lakh years man has been continuously giving importance to his right hand for making tools.
That is, the straight hand with which you hold a pen or scroll on your mobile today has a connection with the historic decision of our ancestors millions of years ago to stand on two legs, which transformed us from animals to humans. This new discovery of science tells us that behind every small habit of ours there is a long and beautiful journey of evolution hidden.
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