An undergraduate biology student from The University of Nottingham discovered that pond snails are pre-programmed by their mothers if they are to left handed or right handed. At first it was thought that only humans were able to use different parts of their brains to perform different tasks, but then it was broadened to vertebrates in general. Now, thanks to this little pond snail, they can add invertebrates to the list. Anyways, in this particular case they were able to see how left- and right-handedness affects them in reproductively. Snails that are right handed (dextral) to their shell turn counterclockwise and left handed (sinistral) snails turn clockwise to their shells. This kind of turning between the two different snails causes a 'mirror image', and these different directions affect them directly because they are unable to mate with each other. Of course this is just one discovery of the many things to come, but it's intriguing how an invertebrate as small as the snail can provide interesting information about brain function. Let's see what more useful information we can get from this little creature in the future.
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