Why can’t I tell my left from my right?

Explain It to Me

Listener Piper called us up with this question, “Why do some people have a harder time than others distinguishing their left and right?”

When our friends at the Vox podcast Unexplainable heard it they were so intrigued that they created a whole game show around it and invited our very own Explain It to Me host Jonquilyn Hill to play along.

Why do some people struggle to tell their left from their right? What makes someone a lefty? And why does life have this weird rule about only having either left- or right-handed molecules? 

Check out Unexplainable wherever you get your podcasts.

If you have a question — something you’d like us to explain to you — give us a call at 1-800-618-8545. You can also send us your question here. 

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

To listen to explicit episodes, sign in.

Stay up to date with this show

Sign in or sign up to follow shows, save episodes and get the latest updates.

Select a country or region

Africa, Middle East, and India

Asia Pacific

Europe

Latin America and the Caribbean

The United States and Canada