Scientists May Have Finally Figured Out Why Most People Are Right-Handed
A new study suggests that humanity's preference for right-handedness may be linked to evolutionary milestones such as walking upright and larger brain sizes. Researchers from the University of Oxford examined data from various primate species to understand this trait's origins. The findings indicate that while early hominins showed some right-handed preference, it became more pronounced with the evolution of the genus Homo.
- ▪Around 90% of people are right-handed, a trait that has puzzled scientists for years.
- ▪The study links right-handedness to walking upright and the development of larger brains in early human ancestors.
- ▪Researchers analyzed data from 2,025 individuals across 41 species of monkeys and apes to understand handedness patterns.
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| Original publisher | Gizmodo |
| Canonical URL | https://gizmodo.com/scientists-may-have-finally-figured-out-why-most-people-are-right-handed-2000760885 |
| Publication time | Wed, 20 May 2026 14:45:05 +0000 |
| Retrieval time | 2026-05-20T14:50:02.630Z |
| Last seen | 2026-05-20T14:50:02.630Z |
| Headline source | Publisher (no WeSearch rewrite) |
| Excerpt source | publisher body |
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| Summary | WeSearch · cerebras-chat (WeSearch summarizer) |
| Summary source text | contentText |
| Citation coverage | Summary is a WeSearch-generated derivative; primary citation is the original publisher URL. |
| Cluster | 9AOeiGT4J-pL |
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| Retrieval / RAG | May the content be exposed for third-party retrieval-augmented generation? | Not asserted |
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| Commercial reuse | May the content be reused commercially? | Not permitted |
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Opening excerpt (first ~120 words) tap to expand
Around 90% of people—across cultures and throughout recorded history—are right-handed. That fact may seem ordinary, yet it remains one of the deepest puzzles in human evolution: how does a single trait become so overwhelmingly dominant in a species? A new study may offer some answers by tracing humanity’s right-handed bias to our early ancestors.cnx.cmd.push(function(){cnx({"playerId":"92b7b46b-43ed-4e0e-b21b-2c999302d9d7","settings":{"advertising":{"macros":{"AD_UNIT":"/23178111854/od.gizmodo.com/article","CHILD_UNIT":"article","POST_ID":"2000760885","POST_TYPE":"post","CHANNEL":"science","SECTION":"human-history","SUBSECTION":"","CATEGORIES":"human-history","TAGS":"homo-sapiens,human-evolution,neanderthals","NOP":"0"},"timeBeforeFirstAd":0}}}).render("cnx-player-main")}); A team led by…
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