The Latest Findings

Tall people have less trouble retrieving objects from high shelves than those who are shorter, British researchers have found.

"When feeling out of sight for the the ends of being and ideal grace," the report's authors say, "subjects who were able to grasp items found it easier to collect them than those whose fingers merely brushed their objectives."

The key variable appears to be the distance from the balls of the feet to the end of an extended arm. Ratios of arm to leg length were found to be statistically insignificant.

Interventions such as standing on a chair, however, might also invalidate what are still preliminary conclusions according Dr Charles Suet at the University of How's Your Father in Croydon.