A 22-year-old Australian man’s brain swaps hot and cold sensations, leaving doctors baffled by his unusual condition. This rare disorder means touching ice feels burning hot, and a warm mug chills him to the bone—climate control just got a lot more complicated.

Digging deeper, neurologists traced the Australian man’s brain confusion to a lesion in his right thalamus, the region processing sensory signals—including temperature. Such rewiring means the brain’s hotline for hot and cold sensations wildly cross-communicates, creating chaos.