EmailMy dad is an identical twin and he always says he and his brother had to be twins because one guy couldn't be that dumb.
Okay, I'm not sure if this adds anything to the posting but I always found wisdom in it.
posted on Sun, 02/17/2008 - 11:19pm
Twins: Not so identical after all.
Nearly identical twins: The difference being, of course, that the boy on the left thinks only evil thoughts.
Courtesy Chubby BatGenetic studies have recently revealed that identical twins are only mostly identical.
Identical twins, by definition, should have the very same DNA. While the genome is virtually identical, says a report in the American Journal of Human Genetics, there are tiny and fairly common differences in the genetic makeup of twins.
Each set of twins involved in the study had the same DNA, but “evinced differences in the number of copies of individual DNA segments.” So some twins could have multiple copies of a segment of DNA, while their siblings might be missing the same segment altogether.
The study complicates our view of genetics, but might lead to a better understanding of why identical twins sometimes have significant differences in health. Parkinson’s disease, for instance, can develop in one twin and not the other, and until now environmental factors were thought to be the only explanation for that sort of thing.
What’s most remarkable about the study, to me at least, is that these geneticists claim to have discovered something that I learned from watching a video when I was seven. I am, of course, referring to the 1988 documentary Twins. The film follows two separated-at-birth twins, within whom a keen observer can detect subtle discrepancies in morphological phenotypes. One of the brothers, Julius, looks strikingly like a younger version of California’s governor, while the other brother, Vincent, looks a little more like some kind of goblin, possibly a gnome. Also, Vincent has latent criminal tendencies, and Julius is cursed with deeply sub-average intelligence. So while this study sheds a certain amount of light on the subjects of the film, I’m not sure that the scientists should go around talking about “original research.” At the very least, I hope that Ivan Reitman is credited in their bibliography.
Your Comments, Thoughts, Questions, Ideas
I think their relly awesome to me, one of my friend is a twin. They don`t look alike but they are twins.
posted on Mon, 02/18/2008 - 11:39am
Do identical twins have identical fingerprints? If not, why not?
posted on Tue, 02/19/2008 - 8:27am
According to this, identical twins do not have identical fingerprints. Fingerprints are formed during fetal development, and their characteristics are supposedly influenced by external factors like "maternal diet, pH, temperature, movement of the fetus, etc." as well as by genetics.
How about that?
posted on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 6:48pm
Identical twins don't have finger prints as the precise patterns on your fingers are affected by the local environment (pressures etc..) you experience in the womb. This will be different even if their are two individuals sharing the womb.
posted on Thu, 02/21/2008 - 5:50am
dude thats crazy
i got 2 twin sisters
i had no idia
posted on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 10:36am
OMG THIS IS SO WEIRD. MY LITTLE BROTHERS ARE TWINS BUT THEY ARE SO DIFFERENT. I THINK THEY HAVE THE CASE OF WHAT EVER THOSE LITTLE BOYS HAVE. I WANT TO HAVE TWINS ONE DAY AND I HOPE THAT THEY ARE DIFFERENT IN SOME WAYS BT NOT LIKE ONE THINKS EVIL TOUGHTS AND THE OTHER IS LIKE A VERY GOOD KID........I WOULD THINK THAT WINS SHOULD HAVE ALOT SIMILAR AND BE DIFFERENT IN THEIR OWN WAY.
posted on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 10:37am
Yeah, it must have been a rough life for the good and evil twins--one of them always wanting to help old ladies across the street, the other always wanting to commit mail fraud. That may not have been genetic, though, so I think you're probably safe if you ever do have twins.
posted on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 6:51pm
This information is right on because hopefully everybody knows that twins arent identicle they look mostly like eachother, you've never really seen twins that actually look just alike. so good job on gettin this info out kiddo!
posted on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 10:39am
My friend has a twin, but they're not really identical. It's just like the movie Twins as you wrote. One is taller and slimer and the other one is short.
posted on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 10:45am
I have a twin. But she's really not my twin. I mean we look alike and everything but where not twins i guess. Since I thought all twins have the same dna, i guess where not twins anymore...SAD... No but that's wierd so now they have to rethink everything that they said about twins having the same dna and everything. So now people with serious illnessess can't use their twins organs like the liver or kidney translpant? Wow were all doomed?
posted on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 10:49am
I think you're still twins, Candice. And I think if you ever need your sister's liver or kidneys your should still be covered (although she might be kind of sore about you taking her liver).
What the research was saying, as far as I understood it, is that the information encoded in your and your sister's DNA (for example) is still exactly the same, but there are probably sections of the DNA that one of you has more of than the other--and scientists still aren't sure how having more or less of these sections effects your health.
It'd be like, maybe, if you and your sister had identical jeans, but one of you had an extra belt loop.
Get it? Jeans? Genes? Oh ho ho ho.
posted on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 6:41pm
Its me again..and umm oh yeah ive heard that people, everybody, has a twin but not an identicle one.
posted on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 10:57am
i have twin girl cuzins they are the most cutiest too they are identical they dress alike look like can you harly tell them apart i think its so cool
posted on Wed, 02/20/2008 - 11:09am
Forreals!!! One is evil and one is good?!?! That's just crazy yo.
posted on Sun, 02/24/2008 - 1:46pm
When you think twins you think "alike." I never really thought that identical twins would think the same that's why this isn't so much of a surprise to me. I think it's kind of different in a way.
posted on Wed, 02/27/2008 - 11:00am
I am an identical twin (now 40). We have always had many identical features but appear to "mirror" each other. I part my hair on the left, she on the right. She does many things "left handed" . When we walk together, we have to be on a certain side of each other...and it's just a given. We both had two daughters. As we have gotten older, we still "look alike". I am bigger in weight than she is by a few pounds. This comes in because I actually like to cook and eat. She does not. The interesting part is that when we were in college (and yes, roomed together), she did all the cooking.
There are differences in us but yet, we still get stared at in the mall. We still think a lot a like but we also have somewhat different lives. We actually complement the other's weakness. She is still my best friend and I believe, a part of me.
posted on Wed, 03/05/2008 - 11:37am
I'm a mirror twin also somewhat similar likes , personallity alot differant. That's probably because we stopped hanging out togerther when we were teens. We are about thirty pounds differant in weight, though. So, I'm always so happy if someone notices that we are twins.
posted on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 4:53pm
Unctwin2, that was really cute.. i think it's sweet when siblings get along. (with my brothers, well, i try, but seriously it's really hard when you're the only girl! haha) I think twins are simply adorable and someday i'd love to have twins of my own if i'm lucky!
posted on Fri, 06/13/2008 - 1:12am
I'm a twin and recently started wondering if we are identicle because I heard it could be one egg and two sperms which would not be the same as if there were one egg with one sperm that split. My twin was hurt that I would question this but I'm curious. So maybe this does explain why we are a little differant (one left handed one right,etc.) but so much alike. Twins are awesome!
posted on Thu, 02/12/2009 - 4:48pm
I'm also a twin and have also started wondering if we are identical, we seem to grow less and less alike. I have dimples and she doesn't (someone told me that was genetic) but our parents always told us that we were. It jus feels kina weird not knowin if we are identicle or not.
posted on Mon, 08/31/2009 - 1:22pm
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