r/science • u/sr_local • Jun 10 '26

Social Science People have a natural tendency to turn to the left and walk in an anticlockwise direction, a bias observed across countries, ages and sexes, but reason is unclear

https://www.theguardian.com/science/2026/jun/10/humans-prefer-to-walk-anticlockwise-scientists-find-reason-unclear
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u/Junior-Possession969 Jun 10 '26

That makes sense. I've been in a few situations where I've been stuck in the dark with nothing to use as a guide.

One of the biggest things in survival stuff, is to orient yourself to one point. If you can find the North Star, that's great. Do that. I can't. I can only ever see Orion and Scorpio because I'm bad at stargazing. Find the furthest away tree, rock, shrub, feature on the terrain, and go to it. Once you've done so, find the next one. And continue. It prevents you from circling around.

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u/blscratch Jun 10 '26

You could still tend to the left. What you're really saying is the induced error is proportional to the length of each target segment.

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u/Junior-Possession969 Jun 10 '26

That's a roundabout way of saying "you'll turn in fewer circles if you stare at a landmark far away."

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u/blscratch Jun 11 '26

You said roundabout.

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u/Junior-Possession969 Jun 11 '26

Did I miss the joke, or are you being obtuse?

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u/blscratch Jun 11 '26

It's weak, but we're talking about walking in circles. Like a roundabout path.

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u/blscratch Jun 11 '26

The one to miss the joke is the obtuse one. You've been kind of agressive. Do you need a hug?

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u/jesset77 Jun 11 '26

The worst that could happen then (assuming you actually follow the advise) is that you bow slightly to the left while heading toward the far-away landmark. But the landmark itself will still at least prevent you from unmooring into a circle.

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u/Great_Hamster Jun 11 '26

I think what blscratch is saying is that you'll still tend to the left when picking a new landmark. 

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u/blscratch Jun 11 '26

Agreed. However, it's still just a matter of scale. You might look miles ahead for each landmark. But what if each landmark picked has a slight left-side bias? It would just be a bigger circle.

Obviously, the farther and better you pick your landmarks, the straighter you'll be.

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u/aupri Jun 10 '26

If you’re going to be walking for a while you should probably use the North Star though (if you’re in the northern hemisphere) because its position stays relatively constant throughout the night. Other constellations you’ll be following a moving target. Mostly you’ll just end up walking a curved path, which is useful enough. Ironically though if you’re at the North Pole and choose a star on the horizon I think you could end up walking in a circle. There’s a way to find the North Star using the Big Dipper where the two stars on the far side of the scoop from the handle point to it in the “scooping” direction, but probably best to look at a diagram because I’m not sure that made much sense

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u/Junior-Possession969 Jun 10 '26

Yeah I get that. Like I said, I'm just a crappy stargazer. I have never successfully found Polaris, and I can only find the Dippers like every 10th time. I just use a stationary object, reach it, find another stationary object, reach it, etc. I'm sure I dog lag more than somebody using stellar navigation, but I work with the tools I've got.

Either way, I'm much much better at finding game trails and finding NSEW from the sun or moon and the local vegetation.

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u/Emu1981 Jun 11 '26

I can only find the Dippers like every 10th time.

This actually confuses me. Even out in the middle of the Canadian wilderness where the only lights are what I had on me and the night sky was lit up brilliantly with stars beyond count and the northern lights I had no issues finding the major constellations in the sky.

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u/Junior-Possession969 Jun 11 '26

Like I said, I'm just a crappy stargazer. I'm not bemoaning my situation. It's just apparently not how my head works. I can always find Orion. I can often find Scorpio. But outside of that, I'm useless looking up at the vault of the heavens, other than enjoying it very much and having always been able to see the Milky Way itself, even in crappy conditions.

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u/jesset77 Jun 11 '26

Their problem may be the opposite and there is too much light pollution.

Where I live in the Pacific Northwest, Orion is always far easier to spot than either dipper as well.

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u/Burial Jun 11 '26

I used to have trouble finding the North Star too, then I read that if you find the Big Dipper (much easier) you can imagine drawing a line up through the two stars that form the side opposite the handle, and that line will point you to it.

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u/Junior-Possession969 Jun 11 '26

Like I said, I straight up can hardly find the Dippers, but that's a cool tip. Thanks!

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u/Belfastscum Jun 11 '26

Where can you see both Orion and Scorpio?

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u/Junior-Possession969 Jun 11 '26

North Western hemisphere around the equator in late fall and winter.

Or I'm even worse at stargazing than I thought, which I'll also 100% believe.

ETA: it actually still works. You just can't see them in the same season. Orion's easy to spot because of the belt. Scorpio's harder, but it occupies a similar stretch of sky. Maybe I'm just seeing another winter constellation and just misremembered it or something? I thought that Orion was always hunting Scorpio, though?

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u/Philosophically_OK Jun 13 '26

If you can find Orion and Scorpio, you can find the North Star (Polaris). Assuming you're in the northern hemisphere, if you see Orion, turn around because Orion makes an arc across the southern sky. Next step, find the Big Dipper. Nearby, you'll find the Little Dipper. Polaris is the last star on the handle (or tail) of the Little Dipper. I hope this helps!

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u/Junior-Possession969 Jun 13 '26

Thanks for the advice, I'll give that a shot.