[voyageur]

Everyone noting their dominant hand in the "What ARE You?" thread reminded me of this interesting genetic tidbit I read about some months ago.

Your hair pattern and your dominant hand are connected and controlled by a single gene.
Do this: trace the whorl in your hair on the top of your head. If it runs counterclockwise, you have the "random-handedness" trait; that is, you had a 50:50 chance of being either a righty or lefty when you were born.

Weird but true. And a fun activity for your next family reunion.

[gorickey]

Originally posted by voyageur:
Do this: trace the whorl in your hair on the top of your head.

And if you are bald?

[Xeo]

Originally posted by voyageur:
Everyone noting their dominant hand in the "What ARE You?" thread reminded me of this interesting genetic tidbit I read about some months ago.

Your hair pattern and your dominant hand are connected and controlled by a single gene.
Do this: trace the whorl in your hair on the top of your head. If it runs counterclockwise, you have the "random-handedness" trait; that is, you had a 50:50 chance of being either a righty or lefty when you were born.

Weird but true. And a fun activity for your next family reunion.

So wait, all you do with this is determine whether you had a 50/50 chance to be either handed? And what if it runs clockwise? Or anything else?

[starman]

And here I thought it was about which way your toilet water flushed depending on where in the world you were

Mike

[TailsToo]

Toilet bowls and heads - who would have thought that they were connected! (except for those who have had too much to drink, of course!)

[voyageur]

Originally posted by Xeo:
So wait, all you do with this is determine whether you had a 50/50 chance to be either handed? And what if it runs clockwise? Or anything else?

If it runs clockwise, you may be either right-handed or random-handed. The same randomness affects the direction of the whorl. Only if you have either a counter-clockwise whorl or you are left-handed can you be sure you have the randomness trait (because it's recessive).

Gorickey, if you are bald, you will just have to keep wondering....

[turtle777]

Originally posted by Xeo:
So wait, all you do with this is determine whether you had a 50/50 chance to be either handed? And what if it runs clockwise? Or anything else?

Uhm, what's anything else going to be ?
Neither clockwise nor counter-clockwise ?

-t

[Randman]

Originally posted by voyageur:
If it runs counterclockwise, you have the "random-handedness" trait; that is, you had a 50:50 chance of being either a righty or lefty when you were born.

Originally posted by voyageur:
If it runs clockwise, you may be either right-handed or random-handed.

So you are actually saying that no matter which way the whorl goes, you have a 50% chance of being right-handed, or left-handed? That doesn't make sense, because then you would have a greater percentage of the population being left-handed, but right-handed people are dominant.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by Randman:
That doesn't make sense, because then you would have a greater percentage of the population being left-handed, but right-handed people are dominant.

Not necessarily.
I think that most people are right-handed because it's the norm, and thus "enforced" by the general public. E.g., kids see their parents writing with the right hand all the time. So it's a sort of model for them...
Some left-handed kids get pressed to use the right hand, even if they start out left, because right it's supposedly "correct"...

-t

[Randman]

Originally posted by turtle777:
Not necessarily.
I think that most people are right-handed because it's the norm.

It's the norm because right-handedness is a dominant trait. If it were indeed closer to 50%, then you would not have as strong of a social impact on rearing children "righty".

[Zimphire]

whorl

What did you call me?

[voyageur]

Originally posted by Randman:
So you are actually saying that no matter which way the whorl goes, you have a 50% chance of being right-handed, or left-handed? That doesn't make sense, because then you would have a greater percentage of the population being left-handed, but right-handed people are dominant.

You can be genetically random for handedness/whorl direction, or you can be obligatory right-handed/clockwise. Because right-handed/clockwise is dominant, you only need one copy of the gene to express it. That's why most people are righties. If you inherit two copies of the random gene, you have an even chance of being right- or left-handed and clockwise or counter. ONLY "random" people will have a counterclockwise whorl or be lefties.

It explains why identical twins sometimes have different handedness and different hair patterns despite being genetically identical.

It also explains why two lefthanded parents can have a righthanded child.

It raises interesting questions about the development of brain asymmetries, and their roles in behavior.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by Randman:
It's the norm because right-handedness is a dominant trait. If it were indeed closer to 50%, then you would not have as strong of a social impact on rearing children "righty".

Sounds like the chicken/egg dilema here...
What was first ?

-t

[voyageur]

Originally posted by Zimphire:


What did you call me? [/B]

[turtle777]

Originally posted by Zimphire:


What did you call me? [/B]

You are mistaken. Gimme an E for an L

-t

[Randman]

Originally posted by turtle777:
Sounds like the chicken/egg dilema here...
What was first ?

The egg. Because breakfast comes before dinner.

[Doc Juansinn]

I don't have a whorl on my head. What does that signify?

I sort of have one on my neck, but all the hair just points inward without any whorl effect. Must have been those ultra high voltage power lines near the house I grew up in.