Brain Trick
Ambidexterity
Using both hands equally well for every task. Fewer than 1% of people are truly ambidextrous. Most people who say they are ambidextrous are mixed-handed: right hand for some jobs, left for others.
Under 1%
Famous people
A well-known person has or had this.
14 oddities.
Spiritual 6Icky 4Not an emergency 20Get it checked 14Try it 62Learnable 20Party trick 19Vestigial 7Genetic 35Sleep 6Illusion 21Childhood 10Debunked myth 11Community 13Famous people 14Record 7
Body Rare ability
CCR5-delta32
About 1% of people of Northern European descent carry two copies of a broken gene that makes them almost immune to the most common form of HIV. A bone marrow transplant from one such donor produced the first cure of HIV.
About 1% of Northern Europeans (two copies)
Body Rare ability
Chimerism
A chimera is one person made of two sets of cells with different DNA. It happens when two embryos fuse in the first days of pregnancy. Most chimeras never find out. A few discovered it when a DNA test said they were not the mother of their own children.
Unknown. About 100 documented cases
Eyes Variation
Distichiasis
A second row of eyelashes growing from the oil-gland openings along the inner edge of the eyelid. It is rare, mostly inherited, and Elizabeth Taylor was born with it.
Rare
Eyes Variation
Heterochromia
Eyes of two different colours, or one eye with two colours, in fewer than 1 in 100 people. When it is present from birth it is almost always harmless.
Under 1% of people
Brain Rare ability
Highly superior autobiographical memory
A few dozen people worldwide can recall what happened on almost any date of their adult lives, in detail and without effort. Their memory for other things, such as lists or numbers, is ordinary.
About 62 documented cases
Brain Rare ability
Human echolocation
Some blind people find their way by making sharp tongue clicks and listening to the echoes. Brain scans show the echoes are processed in the visual cortex. Sighted people can learn a basic version in a few weeks.
Rare, mostly among blind people
Brain Rare ability
Perfect pitch
About 1 in 10,000 people can name or sing any musical note without hearing a reference note first. It runs in families and is far more common in people who started music lessons very young.
About 1 in 10,000 people
Muscle Trick
Raising one eyebrow
Lifting a single eyebrow while the other stays down. Between 30% and 35% of people can do it without training. Most of the rest can learn it in front of a mirror.
30–35%
Brain Rare ability
Savant syndrome
A very small number of people with a developmental disability or brain injury have one extraordinary skill, such as instant calendar calculation, drawing a city from memory, or playing a piece of music after one hearing.
About 1 in 1,000,000 people
Body Variation
Situs inversus
All the organs in the chest and belly sit on the opposite side from usual, as in a mirror. About 1 in 10,000 people are built this way, and most are healthy.
About 1 in 10,000 people
Skin Variation
Supernumerary nipples
An extra nipple, usually small and flat, on a line running from the armpit to the groin. Between 1 in 500 and 1 in 18 people have one, and most think it is a mole.
0.2–5.6% of people
Brain Perception
Synesthesia
In some people, one sense triggers another. Letters have colours, sounds have shapes, or days of the week sit in fixed places in space. The pairings are automatic and stay the same for life.
About 4% of people
Bones Variation
Webbed toes
Two toes joined by skin, most often the second and third, in about 1 in 2,000 to 3,000 babies. The toes usually work normally and many people leave them as they are.
About 1 in 2,000–3,000 births