This, And Not The Brain, Is What Decides Whether You'll Be Left Or Right Handed, Ruhr-University Reveals

The origins of handedness have been a scientific puzzle for many years. Asymmetries in the brain have been thought to be the source of our preference for either our right or left hands. But a study in foetuses has found that differences in the expression of genes in the left and right hemispheres of the brain may not be the cause of left and right handedness in humans.

Instead, even earlier in development there is asymmetrical expression of genes in the spine, which is now thought to be where handedness arises, according to a paper in the journal eLife. Researchers at Ruhr University Bochum in Germany looked again at the puzzle of the origin of handedness because established theories couldn't explain how handedness developed so early in babies during pregnancy.

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