genetics

Think you're right handed? Try this test

No matter where you are in the world, most people use their right hand for most things. More than 85 per cent of us are right-handed — even foetuses at 10 weeks preferentially move their right hand.

And the preference seems to be just a human thing — our close relatives the apes are split right down the middle on the left/right-handedness. Fifty per cent of them are lefties.

Test yourself

How your life could change the cells of your grandkids

We explain what the new science of epigenetics means for your children and grandchildren.

Everyone's heard of the genome: that double helix DNA code that is uniquely yours, unless you happen to have an identical twin. But there's another layer of complexity responsible for creating us — and that's the epigenome.

Your epigenome sits in your cells with your genome. It's a set of instructions that decides which bits of your DNA are activated, or which genes are switched on or off.

Climate, not just genetics, shaped your nose, study says

There's a great variety in nose variation from person to person, yet if you look at different ethnic populations, you will see differences across groups. For example, the distance between the wings of the nose, also known as "nasal alare," are larger in people of West African, South Asian and East Asian ancestry than in people of European ancestry.