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The Science Behind Everyday Life

Jay Ingram has made a career of finding answers to everyday riddles, but Jay is not the only one seeking answers. For over half a century, scientists around the world have been trying to solve the puzzles behind things we do every day—like the way we carry infants. In The Velocity of Honey, Ingram investigates "The Mysterious Art—and Science—of Baby-Holding", amongst other things.

It has been documented that both women and men prefer to hold an infant on their left hip, or left side of the body. There are many theories behind this strange pattern. For instance, does it involve a certain side of the brain or is it something as simple as plain old dexterity? Ingram takes us along as he learns the different approches reaseachers have taken to answer this question.

A few of the studies focused their research on art, including paintings and sculptures from ancient times to the present. One researcher discovered that works from the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries depicted babies held on the left nearly 100 percent of the time. Strangely, over the next half-century paintings switched almost exclusively to babies held on the right. Then the left side reigned again from the beginning of the eighteenth century until now. What explains these shifting trends?

Another research method is to test if left side holding is confined to babies. One researcher who wanted to know surveyed over 400 patrons walking out of a store through an automatic door (eliminating the necessity for the shoppers to free one hand or the other for door-opening) holding a bag of groceries in their arms. The results were split 50-50, proving that left side carrying was confined to babies, not just any large object.

To continue to solve this enigmatic behaviour Igram tackles it from a neurological point of view. Much of the research explaining baby-holding is tied to the difference between the right and left hemispheres of our brain. The left side of the brain is wired for analytical and mathematical thinking, while the right hemisphere is wired for emotions and artistic thoughts. As Ingram writes, "To a large extent the wiring from each eye to the brain crossed over, so that images visible to the left side of each eye are primarily transmitted to the right hemisphere and vice versa." Given this fact, could it be true that we want to connect better emotionally with infants so subconsciously we choose to cradle them to the left?

It sounds amazing, and this is just a taste of the research done on this topic! To learn more about the mystery of baby-holding, pick up The Velocity of Honey. To learn about other books by Jay Ingram, click on the titles below.