In the United States, despite scientific agreement that it’s partly genetic, the rate of left-handedness has fluctuated over time. To see why left-handers are still a minority, two mathematicians (both right-handed) analyzed athletes. Their study, published in 2012, hypothesized that the delicate balance between cooperation and competition has evolved humans towards our current rate of left-handedness. In a perfectly cooperative world, 100% of us would be righties, and in a perfectly competitive one, we’d be equally split 50%-50%. The model accurately predicted the percentage of left-handed elite athletes in baseball, boxing, hockey, fencing and table tennis.

Source: The Guardian August 13, 2017 14:26 UTC