Perspectives on asymmetry: the Erickson Lecture.

Topics discussed include asymmetry of the brain; prosopagnosia with asymmetric involvement; the blaspheming brain; effects of the numbers of X chromosomes on brain asymmetry; normal facial asymmetry; kissing asymmetry; left- and right-handedness; left-sided baby cradling; Nodal signaling and left/right asymmetry; primary cilium and left/right asymmetry in zebrafish; right/left asymmetry in snails; species differences in Shh and Fgf8; primary cilium in vertebrate asymmetry; Hedgehog signaling on the cilium; Wnt signaling on the cilium; situs solitus, situs inversus, and situs ambiguus (heterotaxy); ciliopathies; right-sided injuries in trilobites; unilateral ocular use in the octopus; fiddler crabs; scale-eating cichlids; narwhals; left-footed parrots; asymmetric whisker use in rats; and right-sided fatigue fractures in greyhounds.