Δευτέρα, Μαρτίου 03, 2008

Fate written on hands...

I just finished reading an article in a Greek newspaper about digit ratio and its correlation to traits in health, behavior etc. (Here is Wikipedia's entry).In sum, the proponents of this scientific theory argue that there is relation between the index/ring finger ratio and some aspects of people's health and personality (It all has to do with testosterone levels in the development of the fetus that affect this ratio). Women have a ratio of 1 or more (the index is of the same length or even bigger than the ring finger, while men usually show a ratio of 0.98 (the ring finger is bigger)

Some of them say that people with a very "male" ratio (<0.9) are prone to arthritis and those with a very "female" one (>1.0) could develop neck cancer!
Although I would give some credit to this (after all, digit ratio is controlled by testosterone and there seems to be a relation between hormonal levels and predisposition to diseases) nevertheless, I find these conclusions a bit extreme.

And yes, they also correlate digit ratio with sexual orientation, but let's not get there...