Left Handed

When Kate and Ed were here in February they made a perception observation.  "We think he may be left-handed," Kate said.

Ever since then I've been watching more closely, and I see what they're getting at.  He does seem to reach and grasp with his left more than his right (I'll see if I can get some video of this for y'all).

But does his current fumbling correlate with future handedness?  As a scientist, I decided to go back to the primary source material: Wikipedia.

Seriously, I did a little med search on the topic.  There's almost no scientific research about how behavior at 4 months correlates with which hand the baby prefers.  (That hasn't prevented a massive proliferation of mommy websites, with self-professed experts doling out their thoughts.   From these sources, opinions on the question vary from 3 to 18 months.)

But if there's no research on babies and left-handedness, there's lots when it comes to adults.  One of the more interesting studies showed that there are more left-handed people in more violent societies.   The conclusion of the authors:  a punch coming from the left hand is a surprise, which is an advantage in a fight.  So the more violence, the better idea it is to be a leftie.

Aside from schoolyard brawls, how else might being left-handed affect Elliot's life?  For one thing, it turns out that us "normals" who use our right hands, put all of our language ability in the left hemisphere of the brain.  Lefties, because they're all twisty turvy, split the language ability between the two hemispheres.

For most people, for most of their lives, that doesn't matter one bit.  But if you had a stroke that knocked out one hemisphere (I can practically hear Hannah shouting at me to knock wood right now), then you would have a significant advantage over a right handed person with the same condition.

And this is one of the most fascinating paragraphs on all of Wikipedia:

Of the seven most recent U.S. Presidents, five have been left-handed, including Barack Obama, while a fifth is said to have been ambidextrous.Ronald Reagan, who was left-handed by birth,^[29][30][31] became president after he defeated left-handed candidate George H. W. Bush in the Republican primary election. Four years earlier, Reagan had lost the Republican presidential primary to incumbent left-handed President Gerald Ford. George H. W. Bush succeeded Reagan and later ran for re-election against left-handers Bill Clinton^[32] and Ross Perot.^[31] Clinton's second term opponents included Perot, and Bob Dole who had become left-handed when his right arm was paralyzed in combat 50 years earlier. Obama defeated left-handed Senator John McCain in his race for the presidency.^[33] Thus, a left-handed president was often the only possible outcome of an election.

Also, left-handed people apparently earn 10-15% more than righties.