Stressed? Clench Your Left Fist

Research finds that athletes perform better under pressure if they clench their left hand (and, also, instead of their right hand).

Panicking is primarily due to the brain's left hemisphere; the right hemisphere controls the body's left side's movements (and the left hemisphere controls body's right side's movements). Researchers correctly posited that if the right hemisphere is triggered (e.g by squeezing your left hand) physical performance will improve and the panicky thoughts of the left hemisphere will fade.

The study suggests its findings can extend beyond sports to all mechanical activities.

The Advantage of Being a Lefty

Left-handedness is a mystery. ~10% of humans are left-handed, but because of mating disadvantages (shorter lifespans, shorter stature, more likely to be homosexual), evolution should have weeded it out long ago. They are also more likely to have learning disabilities, as well as schizophrenia, epilepsy, and autism.

A study suggests left-handedness may allow them to surprise their opponent, providing an advantage in a fight. Analysis of some tribal cultures found that deaths due to fighting were more frequent where there was a higher percentage of lefties.

Don't Ask the Left Ear

In an Italian dance club a woman approached people and asked for a cigarette. When speaking into people's right ear she got 34 people to give her a smoke vs. only 17 if she spoke into the left ear. It shows that the brain processes sound differently based on which ear its coming from but scientists still can't understand why generosity increases if the request comes through the right ear.

Previous studies have shown that humans tend to prefer listening with their right ears - possibly because right ear auditory stream gets precedence in the brain's left hemisphere, where most linguistic processing occurs.