A slight zap of electricity to the brain could make righties better at using their left hands, a new study shows.

Researchers from the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and Harvard Medical School used a non-invasive electrical stimulation technique to see if it made 16 healthy, right-handed volunteers better at using their left hand.

While the test subjects didn't suddenly become ambidextrous, the dexterity of their left hand did increase slightly.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/27439132/

Are left handers really more intelligent?

Here’s a thing: left handers are meant to be more intelligent than right handers. Even as a left hander, I’m fairly sceptical as to whether this is actually true but studies have shown there is some evidence for this.

Apparently, right handed people process information in their brains in a linear sequence - ie, they complete one thread of thought before going on to the next. On the other hand, we southpaws are supposed to use a ‘visual simultaneous’ method where we process lots of threads at the same time.

So, if right handers can only handle one piece of information at time, surely they must be slower thinkers, right? But, even if that's true, does that make them any less intelligent?

A calendar for left handers

Last year I bought a great calendar especially for southpaws. Next year's is now out and I can't wait to put it on my Xmas list (hint, hint). Called, not surprisingly, The Left-Hander's 2009 Calendar, it's full of "left-handed legends, lore and more".

By the time you've reached December 31st, you'll be so genned up on left handed facts, you'll be able to enter MasterMind. For example, here's one I really liked: "If you type on a standard QWERTY keyboard, the number of English words typed solely with the left hand is estimated at 1,447. But only an estimated 187 words are typed using only the right hand."

'Stewardesses' is one such word, I've discovered....

The Case of the Left Handed Lady

I recently came across a book for teenagers on Amazon called The Case of the Left Handed Lady:an Enola Holmes Mystery.

Written recently by someone called Nancy Springer, this book is about Enola Holmes who is on the run from her much older brothers, Sherlock and Mycroft Holmes. She becomes embroiled in a mystery to find the missing Lady Cecily - the aforementioned left-handed lady.

Interestingly, there were seven reader reviews for this book. One had four stars and the other six rated it a maximum five stars. It's great to see that a book set in Victorian London and aimed at the teenage US market should be so popular.

Must buy a copy....

Left pawed, right pawed

The other day I read that most dogs are right-pawed, and only about 10% favour their left. Just the same ratio as in humans!

But, interestingly, cats tend to favour their left paw. Certainly my cat biffs things, and tries to catch things, with her left paw.

I'd be interested to know - is your cat left pawed and your dog right pawed?

Left Handed Gun

As a tribute to Paul Newman who died last week, I thought I'd mention his 1958 film, Left Handed Gun, about Billy the Kid.

Here's what I found out on Wikipedia:

"While Billy the Kid was right-handed, it was widely assumed in the 20th century that he was left-handed. This belief stemmed from the fact that the only known photograph of Bonney, an undated ferrotype, shows him with a Model 1873 Winchester rifle in his right hand and a gun belt with a holster on his left side, where a left-handed person would typically wear a pistol.

The belief became so entrenched that in 1958, a biographical film was made about Billy the Kid called The Left Handed Gun starring Paul Newman. Late in the 20th century, it was discovered that the familiar ferrotype was actually a reverse image.

This version shows his Model 1873 Winchester with the loading port on the left side. All Model 1873s had the loading port on the right side, proving the image was reversed, and that he was, in fact, wearing his pistol on his right hip. Even though the image has been proven to be reversed, the idea of a left-handed Billy the Kid continues to widely circulate.

Perhaps because many people heard both of these arguments and confused them, many hold the belief that Billy the Kid was ambidextrous. "

Source: Wikipedia