Contralateral organization is the bizarre anatomical setup where the left hemisphere of your brain controls the physical movements and receives sensory input from the entire right side of your body, and vice versa.

A closer look

Contralateral organization is the bizarre anatomical setup where the left hemisphere of your brain controls the physical movements and receives sensory input from the entire right side of your body, and vice versa. This neurological cross-wiring happens at the base of the brainstem in an area called the medulla oblongata, where the neural pathways physically crisscross before traveling down the spinal cord. Evolutionary biologists still cannot agree on why early vertebrates developed this twisted, counterintuitive nervous system structure, leaving it as one of biology's most frustrating mysteries. It essentially means that your body is operating on permanently inverted controls, which might perfectly explain why you possess all the physical grace of a drunken toddler when attempting the absolute simplest of dance routines at a public wedding