6 things you never knew about left-handed people
There are a lot of myths surrounding what it means to be left-handed and throughout history, those who favor the left hand haven't always received the warmest welcome.
But there are a lot of cool things about being a leftie. Here are six facts about them you might not have known before:
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1. 10 percent of the population is left-handed. Researchers in France found that this percentage of left-handedness hasn't really changed since the Neolithic times.
2. How do you determine if you're a righty or a lefty? A study found it's determined by how our hair grows. If the hair grows clockwise out of the scalp, you're more likely to be a righty. Lefties don't show any pattern of hair growth.
3. Left-handed people are better in fights. Researchers believe people who favor their left hand are better in combat because their opponents aren't expecting the left hand hook.
4. Lefties have different cognitive advantages. An older study found that left-handed people were better at "divergent thinking", and a more recent research cites lefties have better working memories and mental flexibility.
5. Don't get too comfortable with your right hand. A study from 2007 found that as we age, we can become more ambidextrous because we start losing dexterity in our dominant hand.
6. If you're a leftie, you fall into the same group as President Barack Obama, Bill Gates, Oprah Winfrey, Leonardo da Vinci and Marie Curie.
Not a bad batch.
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