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Humans prefer to walk anticlockwise, scientists find – but reason is unclear

From Spain to Japan, experiments have repeatedly shown a left-turn bias, but exact mechanic ‘is still an open question’

“I’m not an ambi-turner,” laments Derek Zoolander in the eponymous noughties satire about the world’s hottest male model and his rare catwalk hangup. “It’s a problem I’ve had since I was a baby … I can’t turn left.”

Now, research suggests that the fashionista’s career-threatening quirk was even more unusual than previously thought. Tests reveal that when people are ambling about, they have a natural tendency to turn to the left and walk in an anticlockwise direction.

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© Photograph: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images

© Photograph: Kazuhiro Nogi/AFP/Getty Images

‘Osprey cam’ streams life of nesting seabirds perched at tip of 55 metre-long Queensland rainforest canopy crane

Researchers believe the same pair of birds has been mating and nesting in the unusual spot in the Daintree Rainforest for 15 consecutive years

It started by chance – but it should have come as no surprise that two ospreys would pick a hi-tech research facility to make their home.

James Cook University’s 47-metre tall crane towers over the far-north Queensland rainforest canopy, making it the perfect nesting place for the seabird.

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© Photograph: JCU Daintree Rainforest Observatory

© Photograph: JCU Daintree Rainforest Observatory

© Photograph: JCU Daintree Rainforest Observatory

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