Coursera Spring Sale
40% Off Coursera Plus Annual!
Grab it
Explore the fascinating world of human chirality and asymmetry in this 59-minute Christmas Lecture from The Royal Institution. Discover how humans differ from other animals through our handedness and structured language capabilities, both controlled by our chiral brain where speech is predominantly managed by the left hemisphere. Learn about the surprising asymmetries hidden throughout the human body, from different fingerprints on each hand to the asymmetric positioning of organs like the heart and liver. Examine the evidence for whether handedness is innate or acquired, including complex inheritance patterns and the role of handed molecules in genetic mechanisms. Investigate how our perceptions of left versus right are crucial to understanding human development and behavior. Delve into the connection between handedness and cerebral dominance, exploring how genes composed of chiral molecules may control both physical handedness and language development. Consider the broader implications of molecular chirality in sensory perception, digestion, body construction, and genetic transmission, while contemplating the unsolved mystery of where chiral molecules originate.
