1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:02,519 Speaker 1: Guess what, Gabe's that will So I've got a word 2 00:00:02,600 --> 00:00:06,560 Speaker 1: for you. Are you familiar with the term cryptophasia? Not. 3 00:00:07,000 --> 00:00:09,520 Speaker 1: I don't think I've heard the word before, But if 4 00:00:09,560 --> 00:00:11,200 Speaker 1: you give me a second, I'm going to lean on 5 00:00:11,240 --> 00:00:13,360 Speaker 1: all those S A T. Prep books from years ago 6 00:00:13,520 --> 00:00:17,560 Speaker 1: and through my roots. So, uh, crypto, I know that 7 00:00:17,600 --> 00:00:22,000 Speaker 1: means secret and uh pasia, I don't know what is 8 00:00:22,040 --> 00:00:26,280 Speaker 1: that like? Speech? Nicely done, Gabe, Yeah, secret language. And actually, 9 00:00:26,320 --> 00:00:29,720 Speaker 1: in today's case, I'm referring to twin languages or you know, 10 00:00:29,760 --> 00:00:33,159 Speaker 1: the secret languages that twins developed that nobody else knows. 11 00:00:33,600 --> 00:00:35,960 Speaker 1: And of course, almost every little kid makes up at 12 00:00:36,040 --> 00:00:39,479 Speaker 1: least a few words, but cryptophacia supposedly occurs in about 13 00:00:39,520 --> 00:00:42,600 Speaker 1: half of all twins, and researchers think much of the 14 00:00:42,640 --> 00:00:45,040 Speaker 1: reason it develops is because, you know, like most kids, 15 00:00:45,159 --> 00:00:48,800 Speaker 1: twins will mispronounce certain words, but then because they understand 16 00:00:48,880 --> 00:00:52,040 Speaker 1: each other so well, they just reinforce those words and 17 00:00:52,080 --> 00:00:54,720 Speaker 1: develop a new language out of them. Okay, sure, yeah, 18 00:00:54,760 --> 00:00:56,960 Speaker 1: that makes sense, But it was actually a lot of 19 00:00:57,000 --> 00:00:59,840 Speaker 1: fun to read about. Matthew and Michael Jolden. These are 20 00:00:59,840 --> 00:01:02,920 Speaker 1: the twins, they're now adults, and they took this idea 21 00:01:02,960 --> 00:01:05,959 Speaker 1: to another level, and instead of leaving behind that secret 22 00:01:06,040 --> 00:01:09,160 Speaker 1: language early in life, they just decided to really develop 23 00:01:09,240 --> 00:01:12,759 Speaker 1: it and fully flesh out this language, complete with an alphabet, 24 00:01:12,880 --> 00:01:17,080 Speaker 1: grammatical rules, everything. Now the language is called Mary, and 25 00:01:17,120 --> 00:01:19,680 Speaker 1: over the years they've continued to develop it. Now we're 26 00:01:19,680 --> 00:01:23,360 Speaker 1: talking thousands of words, and today the brothers have a 27 00:01:23,400 --> 00:01:26,440 Speaker 1: decent online following where they share their learnings from something 28 00:01:26,520 --> 00:01:30,400 Speaker 1: like twenty other languages they've learned over the years. Oh wow, 29 00:01:30,400 --> 00:01:32,400 Speaker 1: that's pretty awesome. And I mean, I know it's a 30 00:01:32,400 --> 00:01:35,320 Speaker 1: little weird to say, but I gotta admit I'm pretty jealous. 31 00:01:35,360 --> 00:01:37,240 Speaker 1: I get a game. But it makes a lot of sense. 32 00:01:37,280 --> 00:01:39,600 Speaker 1: And you know, of course, cryptophasia isn't the only thing 33 00:01:39,680 --> 00:01:42,760 Speaker 1: people find fascinating about twins. I think most of us 34 00:01:42,800 --> 00:01:45,160 Speaker 1: have probably thought about what it would be like to 35 00:01:45,240 --> 00:01:47,320 Speaker 1: be a twin. That is, of course, those of us 36 00:01:47,319 --> 00:01:50,000 Speaker 1: who aren't already twins. So you know, today we're gonna 37 00:01:50,040 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: take a look into the history of twins, what different 38 00:01:52,560 --> 00:01:55,720 Speaker 1: civilizations have thought about them, some of the surprising facts 39 00:01:55,800 --> 00:01:58,760 Speaker 1: around the science of twins, how the idea of evil 40 00:01:58,840 --> 00:02:01,520 Speaker 1: twins emerged, And of course we couldn't resist doing some 41 00:02:01,640 --> 00:02:17,000 Speaker 1: digging into non human twins, so let's dive in. Y 42 00:02:26,320 --> 00:02:28,760 Speaker 1: Hey there, podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm 43 00:02:28,800 --> 00:02:30,800 Speaker 1: Will Pearson and today I'm joined by our friend and 44 00:02:30,840 --> 00:02:34,760 Speaker 1: researcher Gabe Lousier. Mangesh is still on vacation. I am 45 00:02:34,800 --> 00:02:38,200 Speaker 1: happy to report my voice is back from its vacation. 46 00:02:38,280 --> 00:02:40,760 Speaker 1: It feels good to be speaking normally again. But Gabe, 47 00:02:40,800 --> 00:02:43,799 Speaker 1: how's it going. Hey, it's going well. Thanks for having 48 00:02:43,800 --> 00:02:45,880 Speaker 1: me on, of course, and on the other side of 49 00:02:45,919 --> 00:02:48,640 Speaker 1: the soundproof glass boarding a fetching new goatee. I wish 50 00:02:48,639 --> 00:02:50,360 Speaker 1: you could see this thing, Gabe. That's our friend and 51 00:02:50,400 --> 00:02:54,480 Speaker 1: producer Tristan McNeil. Oh, well, I'm not so sure about that. 52 00:02:54,600 --> 00:02:57,640 Speaker 1: If if Star Treks taught me anything, it's to beware 53 00:02:57,720 --> 00:03:01,320 Speaker 1: the sudden appearance of well sculpted facial there. So it's 54 00:03:01,400 --> 00:03:03,560 Speaker 1: usually a sure sign you're dealing with an evil twins 55 00:03:03,560 --> 00:03:06,480 Speaker 1: to watch yourself well. Honestly, though, unless you know how 56 00:03:06,480 --> 00:03:08,680 Speaker 1: to work the sound equipment, I think we're just gonna 57 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,160 Speaker 1: have to take our chances here. And besides, if that 58 00:03:11,440 --> 00:03:13,839 Speaker 1: is Tristan's evil twin, then I have to at least 59 00:03:13,880 --> 00:03:17,200 Speaker 1: given props for staying on theme here. It feels appropriate 60 00:03:17,240 --> 00:03:22,000 Speaker 1: because today's show is all about twins, duos, doubles, and 61 00:03:22,040 --> 00:03:24,000 Speaker 1: because this is a bit of a grab bag episode, 62 00:03:24,040 --> 00:03:26,720 Speaker 1: we can start pretty much anywhere we want. So, so, Gabe, 63 00:03:26,760 --> 00:03:28,600 Speaker 1: you're joining us today. What what sounds good to you? 64 00:03:28,600 --> 00:03:31,720 Speaker 1: Where do you want to start? Um? Well, I don't 65 00:03:31,760 --> 00:03:33,880 Speaker 1: want to go too dark too quickly, but I'd like 66 00:03:33,919 --> 00:03:36,040 Speaker 1: to stick with the whole evil twin thing for a minute, 67 00:03:36,080 --> 00:03:38,480 Speaker 1: if you don't mind, because on one hand, you know, 68 00:03:38,720 --> 00:03:41,680 Speaker 1: it's just such a weird leap to make right, like 69 00:03:42,000 --> 00:03:44,400 Speaker 1: just because two people look the same, they must be 70 00:03:44,440 --> 00:03:48,080 Speaker 1: polar opposites in terms of morality. But I mean, on 71 00:03:48,160 --> 00:03:50,720 Speaker 1: some level, the ideas really struck a chord with us, 72 00:03:50,800 --> 00:03:53,520 Speaker 1: because it's not like Evil Spock was the first of 73 00:03:53,560 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: his kind or anything. And in fact, humans have a 74 00:03:56,160 --> 00:03:59,880 Speaker 1: long track record of being distrustful of doubles, like the 75 00:04:00,080 --> 00:04:02,200 Speaker 1: birth of twins was long thought to be a bad 76 00:04:02,240 --> 00:04:05,680 Speaker 1: omen in many cultures, and there's all kinds of folklore 77 00:04:05,840 --> 00:04:08,880 Speaker 1: from throughout Europe and Africa that tells about these so 78 00:04:09,000 --> 00:04:12,360 Speaker 1: called changelings, and these were said to be like a 79 00:04:12,560 --> 00:04:17,200 Speaker 1: supernatural children, the offspring of fairies or demons, and they 80 00:04:17,200 --> 00:04:21,080 Speaker 1: were supposedly left in place of stolen human children, so 81 00:04:21,440 --> 00:04:24,719 Speaker 1: they would look identical, but they secretly harbored all these 82 00:04:24,839 --> 00:04:28,560 Speaker 1: sinister intentions. Well, you know, the example I always think 83 00:04:28,560 --> 00:04:31,200 Speaker 1: back to for evil twins is that German idea that 84 00:04:31,279 --> 00:04:35,159 Speaker 1: everyone has their own doppelganger or double goer, and this is, 85 00:04:35,480 --> 00:04:37,880 Speaker 1: you know, supposedly a kind of specter that each of 86 00:04:37,960 --> 00:04:40,920 Speaker 1: us has that looks exactly like us. And the myth 87 00:04:41,040 --> 00:04:43,560 Speaker 1: was that seeing your double three times would cause you 88 00:04:43,640 --> 00:04:46,880 Speaker 1: to die shortly thereafter. And the term itself was coined 89 00:04:46,880 --> 00:04:49,080 Speaker 1: by a German author named Jean Paul. This was back 90 00:04:49,120 --> 00:04:52,080 Speaker 1: in seventeen nine six, but you know, you have similar 91 00:04:52,080 --> 00:04:54,960 Speaker 1: ideas popping up around the same time in both English 92 00:04:55,040 --> 00:04:58,200 Speaker 1: and Irish literature as well. And in these cases, the 93 00:04:58,240 --> 00:05:01,800 Speaker 1: spiritual double was called effect because the concept was pretty 94 00:05:01,880 --> 00:05:04,120 Speaker 1: much the same. You know, if you catch a glimpse 95 00:05:04,160 --> 00:05:07,480 Speaker 1: of yours and you're unfortunately a goner. You know, Also, 96 00:05:07,520 --> 00:05:09,280 Speaker 1: this is kind of random, but that John Paul guy 97 00:05:09,440 --> 00:05:13,640 Speaker 1: mentioned he actually came up with two words to describe doubles. Well, 98 00:05:13,680 --> 00:05:16,400 Speaker 1: I mean that's appropriate, right, yeah, But sadly the second 99 00:05:16,520 --> 00:05:19,080 Speaker 1: term hasn't endured quite so well. It was actually just 100 00:05:19,120 --> 00:05:21,799 Speaker 1: the same word, but with a T dropped in the middle, 101 00:05:21,839 --> 00:05:24,680 Speaker 1: So I guess it's doppeled ganger. I'm not sure exactly 102 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:26,480 Speaker 1: how to say it, but it was used to describe 103 00:05:26,480 --> 00:05:29,520 Speaker 1: a meal where two courses were served at the same time. 104 00:05:31,279 --> 00:05:33,480 Speaker 1: I love how the more practical term is the one 105 00:05:33,520 --> 00:05:35,760 Speaker 1: that fell out of use. Like, you know, somebody had 106 00:05:35,800 --> 00:05:37,880 Speaker 1: to ask, should we keep the word for eating soup 107 00:05:37,920 --> 00:05:40,680 Speaker 1: and salad at the same time or the one that 108 00:05:40,720 --> 00:05:43,599 Speaker 1: refers to sinister look alikes to predict our own deaths? 109 00:05:43,680 --> 00:05:45,560 Speaker 1: Let's keep that one. Well, you never know. I mean, 110 00:05:45,560 --> 00:05:48,040 Speaker 1: this could be the first step to bringing back the other, 111 00:05:48,080 --> 00:05:49,919 Speaker 1: meaning we'll see what we can do. But I do 112 00:05:50,000 --> 00:05:53,240 Speaker 1: have to admit that the concept of doppelganger lends itself 113 00:05:53,279 --> 00:05:55,760 Speaker 1: pretty well to literature. I mean, it's a clever way 114 00:05:55,760 --> 00:05:58,560 Speaker 1: to dig into that duality of humans that a lot 115 00:05:58,600 --> 00:06:01,160 Speaker 1: of literature refers to, and that kind of that light 116 00:06:01,240 --> 00:06:04,080 Speaker 1: and that dark side that we have. And that's probably 117 00:06:04,120 --> 00:06:06,320 Speaker 1: what's at the root of the whole evil twin trope 118 00:06:06,320 --> 00:06:08,600 Speaker 1: thing in the first place. Don't you think, Oh yeah, 119 00:06:08,640 --> 00:06:10,599 Speaker 1: that makes a lot of sense. And I mean, to 120 00:06:10,640 --> 00:06:14,560 Speaker 1: be fair, though, doppelgangers aren't exclusive to folklore and novels, 121 00:06:14,880 --> 00:06:17,479 Speaker 1: there are some real world cases where people claim to 122 00:06:17,560 --> 00:06:20,440 Speaker 1: have seen their doubles, and true to all those myths, 123 00:06:20,800 --> 00:06:25,320 Speaker 1: those people, you know, they died prematurely. For example, Abraham Lincoln, 124 00:06:25,320 --> 00:06:28,080 Speaker 1: he actually claimed to see a double reflection of himself 125 00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,240 Speaker 1: in the mirror just after he was elected, and one 126 00:06:31,279 --> 00:06:34,040 Speaker 1: face looked normal, but the other was said to look 127 00:06:34,080 --> 00:06:37,800 Speaker 1: eerily pale and kind of ghost like. Yeah, Lincoln said 128 00:06:37,839 --> 00:06:40,320 Speaker 1: this happened two more times to him, but no one 129 00:06:40,360 --> 00:06:42,640 Speaker 1: else was ever there to witness it. And I mean, 130 00:06:42,640 --> 00:06:45,359 Speaker 1: he did tell his wife, Mary Todd about these visions, 131 00:06:45,400 --> 00:06:48,120 Speaker 1: and strangely enough, she actually took them as a sign 132 00:06:48,160 --> 00:06:51,400 Speaker 1: that Lincoln would serve two terms as president, one for 133 00:06:51,440 --> 00:06:55,000 Speaker 1: each of these faces. But you know, she also interpreted 134 00:06:55,040 --> 00:06:57,160 Speaker 1: the kind of ghost like face to mean that he 135 00:06:57,200 --> 00:06:59,440 Speaker 1: would die before the end of that second term, and 136 00:06:59,480 --> 00:07:01,920 Speaker 1: you know, of as he did. Wow, that's so strange, 137 00:07:02,240 --> 00:07:04,600 Speaker 1: and it's also, of course a little bit unsettling. But 138 00:07:04,640 --> 00:07:06,760 Speaker 1: come on, I mean, there has to be a scientific 139 00:07:06,800 --> 00:07:09,040 Speaker 1: explanation for this kind of stuff. I mean, Lincoln was 140 00:07:09,120 --> 00:07:11,360 Speaker 1: under a ton of pressure, you know, and a lot 141 00:07:11,400 --> 00:07:14,360 Speaker 1: of other doppelganger sightings involved people who are either half 142 00:07:14,360 --> 00:07:17,440 Speaker 1: asleep or seriously ill. So I would think maybe it's 143 00:07:17,480 --> 00:07:19,800 Speaker 1: just a trick of the brain, like a hallucination brought 144 00:07:19,800 --> 00:07:23,320 Speaker 1: on that by this fatigue or illness, don't you think. Yeah, 145 00:07:23,400 --> 00:07:25,160 Speaker 1: I mean, as fun as it is to speculate, you're 146 00:07:25,160 --> 00:07:28,520 Speaker 1: probably right. Like I even read about this one neurological 147 00:07:28,520 --> 00:07:31,880 Speaker 1: condition called hugo scopy, and it's it's where you basically 148 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:35,320 Speaker 1: hallucinate your own image at a distance. And you know, 149 00:07:35,400 --> 00:07:37,800 Speaker 1: something like that is probably at play in cases like 150 00:07:37,880 --> 00:07:41,760 Speaker 1: Lincoln's where only one person ever sees the double. But 151 00:07:42,040 --> 00:07:45,520 Speaker 1: still there are cases where multiple witnesses have claimed to 152 00:07:45,560 --> 00:07:48,720 Speaker 1: see somebody else's double, and those are a little harder 153 00:07:48,760 --> 00:07:51,320 Speaker 1: to make sense of. Learned a new word. What you 154 00:07:51,360 --> 00:07:55,040 Speaker 1: said was called hugo scopy, huge scopy. Okay, good one. 155 00:07:55,240 --> 00:07:57,160 Speaker 1: All right, Well, let's leave at least a little bit 156 00:07:57,160 --> 00:07:59,400 Speaker 1: of mystery intact on this one. But I think we 157 00:07:59,400 --> 00:08:02,360 Speaker 1: should leave the folklore behind and talk instead about a 158 00:08:02,360 --> 00:08:05,200 Speaker 1: more literal kind of double, which of course is twins. 159 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:08,480 Speaker 1: And once again, appropriately enough, there are actually two ways 160 00:08:08,520 --> 00:08:11,360 Speaker 1: that a woman can conceive twins. Now. The first is 161 00:08:11,360 --> 00:08:14,240 Speaker 1: when two eggs are released during ovulation and both are 162 00:08:14,280 --> 00:08:17,640 Speaker 1: fertilized and both become embryos, and this results in what 163 00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:21,040 Speaker 1: we call fraternal or non identical twins, and they share 164 00:08:21,040 --> 00:08:23,560 Speaker 1: about fifty of their genes with each other, which is 165 00:08:23,600 --> 00:08:26,920 Speaker 1: actually the same as any siblings born at different times. Now, 166 00:08:26,920 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 1: the other way to conceive twins is for a single 167 00:08:28,760 --> 00:08:31,960 Speaker 1: fertilized egg to be split into early in its development, 168 00:08:32,240 --> 00:08:34,520 Speaker 1: and in this case you wind up with identical twins. 169 00:08:34,559 --> 00:08:37,640 Speaker 1: And because the two embryos resulted from the same combination 170 00:08:37,679 --> 00:08:40,880 Speaker 1: of a single egg and sperm, they share roughly ninety 171 00:08:40,960 --> 00:08:44,560 Speaker 1: nine point nine percent of the same DNA. And the 172 00:08:44,600 --> 00:08:47,040 Speaker 1: weird thing is, we actually aren't really sure why an 173 00:08:47,040 --> 00:08:50,480 Speaker 1: egg splits like this. I mean, technically speaking, it's kind 174 00:08:50,520 --> 00:08:55,040 Speaker 1: of a biological malfunction or you know, a birth anomaly. Well, 175 00:08:55,040 --> 00:08:59,360 Speaker 1: what about like conjoined twins, are they also identical twins? Yeah? 176 00:08:59,400 --> 00:09:02,360 Speaker 1: So conjoined twins are essentially identical twins that have joined 177 00:09:02,400 --> 00:09:05,480 Speaker 1: together in utero. And whether or not this happens really 178 00:09:05,520 --> 00:09:08,520 Speaker 1: comes down to timing. So if the fertilized egg takes 179 00:09:08,640 --> 00:09:11,760 Speaker 1: longer than twelve days to split, then it generally won't 180 00:09:11,800 --> 00:09:15,160 Speaker 1: separate fully and the resulting identical twins will be conjoined 181 00:09:15,160 --> 00:09:18,319 Speaker 1: in some way. Okay, I see. So it's like if 182 00:09:18,320 --> 00:09:21,800 Speaker 1: the egg is fertilized mid split and then never completes 183 00:09:21,840 --> 00:09:24,959 Speaker 1: the process, then the embryo it develops into is kind 184 00:09:24,960 --> 00:09:27,800 Speaker 1: of stuck that way as well. Yeah, exactly. And there's 185 00:09:27,840 --> 00:09:31,120 Speaker 1: actually another subset of identical twins based on the crucial 186 00:09:31,160 --> 00:09:34,160 Speaker 1: timing of that egg split. Now they're called mirror twins, 187 00:09:34,320 --> 00:09:36,600 Speaker 1: and scientists think they come about when the fertilized egg 188 00:09:36,640 --> 00:09:39,840 Speaker 1: separates later than usual, but not as late as with 189 00:09:39,880 --> 00:09:43,240 Speaker 1: conjoined twins. So if the split occurs anywhere between seven 190 00:09:43,280 --> 00:09:46,920 Speaker 1: and twelve days after fertilization, then the resulting embryos will 191 00:09:46,960 --> 00:09:51,840 Speaker 1: likely be these mirror twins. Interesting, So what are mirror twins? 192 00:09:51,880 --> 00:09:54,280 Speaker 1: Exactly like? It kind of sounds like the good twin 193 00:09:54,360 --> 00:09:56,720 Speaker 1: bad twin thing all over again. And now it's it's 194 00:09:56,720 --> 00:09:58,760 Speaker 1: not exactly that, or it's not that at all. I mean, 195 00:09:58,760 --> 00:10:01,000 Speaker 1: the term means that the twins have the same physical 196 00:10:01,000 --> 00:10:04,160 Speaker 1: features except asymmetrically opposite. And I find this kind of 197 00:10:04,200 --> 00:10:07,199 Speaker 1: stuff so fascinating. So, you know, just take as an example, 198 00:10:07,240 --> 00:10:09,280 Speaker 1: if one twin is right handed, the other one will 199 00:10:09,320 --> 00:10:11,680 Speaker 1: be left handed. If one has a birthmark on his 200 00:10:11,800 --> 00:10:13,440 Speaker 1: right arm, the other one will have a birth mark 201 00:10:13,520 --> 00:10:15,959 Speaker 1: on the left arm. Now there are even some extreme 202 00:10:16,080 --> 00:10:19,600 Speaker 1: cases where twins have mirrored internal organs as well, so 203 00:10:19,640 --> 00:10:21,680 Speaker 1: that one, you know, might have an appendix or even 204 00:10:21,679 --> 00:10:23,559 Speaker 1: a heart on the right side, while the other will 205 00:10:23,600 --> 00:10:26,360 Speaker 1: have the organs on the left. And it's pretty wild 206 00:10:26,440 --> 00:10:28,400 Speaker 1: to think about, especially when you consider that this is 207 00:10:28,440 --> 00:10:31,800 Speaker 1: actually the most common type of rare twins. I think 208 00:10:31,840 --> 00:10:34,439 Speaker 1: it's like one in four pairs of identical twins are 209 00:10:34,480 --> 00:10:38,560 Speaker 1: also mirror twins. That seems like a lot. Yeah, although 210 00:10:38,559 --> 00:10:40,880 Speaker 1: I mean, I guess twins in general have become more 211 00:10:40,920 --> 00:10:43,680 Speaker 1: and more common lately. Like I came across this birth 212 00:10:43,760 --> 00:10:47,080 Speaker 1: data report from the CDC and apparently the birth rate 213 00:10:47,080 --> 00:10:49,360 Speaker 1: for twins has nearly doubled in the US and the 214 00:10:49,440 --> 00:10:53,200 Speaker 1: year since. So it used to be that only nineteen 215 00:10:53,240 --> 00:10:56,400 Speaker 1: sets of twins were born per one thousand berths, but 216 00:10:56,520 --> 00:11:00,280 Speaker 1: nowadays it's thirty four sets per one thousand, oh also, 217 00:11:00,440 --> 00:11:04,000 Speaker 1: so nearly doubling. What's going on there, Well, it's really 218 00:11:04,080 --> 00:11:06,240 Speaker 1: a couple of things. Like one is just that women 219 00:11:06,240 --> 00:11:08,480 Speaker 1: are choosing to have kids later in life than they 220 00:11:08,600 --> 00:11:11,240 Speaker 1: used to, so instead of getting pregnant in their twenties. 221 00:11:11,280 --> 00:11:13,480 Speaker 1: You know, a growing number of ladies are waiting until 222 00:11:13,480 --> 00:11:16,720 Speaker 1: their thirties, and and so how does that actually lead 223 00:11:16,760 --> 00:11:19,959 Speaker 1: to more twins? Well, so this is something I didn't 224 00:11:19,960 --> 00:11:23,400 Speaker 1: know until doing the research this week, but apparently hormonal 225 00:11:23,480 --> 00:11:26,320 Speaker 1: changes tend to make older women release more than one 226 00:11:26,360 --> 00:11:29,800 Speaker 1: egg at a time during opulation, which of course increases 227 00:11:29,840 --> 00:11:33,560 Speaker 1: the likelihood of fraternal twins. And actually the peak age 228 00:11:33,600 --> 00:11:35,959 Speaker 1: for this is thought to be about thirty five years old, 229 00:11:36,400 --> 00:11:39,160 Speaker 1: and the chances of conception in general tend to decrease 230 00:11:39,240 --> 00:11:42,200 Speaker 1: from there, but thirty five is kind of the sweet 231 00:11:42,240 --> 00:11:44,760 Speaker 1: spot if you want the best odds of twinning. Okay, 232 00:11:44,800 --> 00:11:47,160 Speaker 1: so think about the timeline you gave with the increase 233 00:11:47,200 --> 00:11:50,200 Speaker 1: of twins spiking after the eighties. I'm guessing the other 234 00:11:50,280 --> 00:11:53,840 Speaker 1: factor would have to be like the assist of reproductive methods. 235 00:11:53,920 --> 00:11:57,120 Speaker 1: You know, I've definitely read about in vitro fertilization and 236 00:11:57,120 --> 00:11:59,000 Speaker 1: and the fact that that I think can up the 237 00:11:59,080 --> 00:12:02,560 Speaker 1: chances of multip births. Right, Yeah, that is right. And 238 00:12:02,760 --> 00:12:05,640 Speaker 1: I mean, now we have stuff like artificial insemination and 239 00:12:05,679 --> 00:12:09,000 Speaker 1: fertility boosting meds, but in vitro is definitely the most 240 00:12:09,040 --> 00:12:12,520 Speaker 1: popular method for people struggling to conceive, so it probably 241 00:12:12,559 --> 00:12:15,160 Speaker 1: plays the biggest role in the twin boom that we're seeing. 242 00:12:15,240 --> 00:12:18,160 Speaker 1: And in fact, according to the Washington Post, thirties six 243 00:12:18,240 --> 00:12:21,640 Speaker 1: percent of all the twins born in the US were 244 00:12:21,640 --> 00:12:24,360 Speaker 1: the results of fertility treatments, with in vitro being the 245 00:12:24,400 --> 00:12:27,160 Speaker 1: most common. Oh wow, I didn't realize it was that high. 246 00:12:27,160 --> 00:12:28,760 Speaker 1: And so did you get a sense of why I 247 00:12:28,880 --> 00:12:32,920 Speaker 1: v F in particular results in so many twins? Yeah. 248 00:12:33,000 --> 00:12:37,240 Speaker 1: So the treatment usually involves multiple rounds or cycles, and 249 00:12:37,320 --> 00:12:41,000 Speaker 1: during each one, doctors typically implant multiple embryos at the 250 00:12:41,040 --> 00:12:43,640 Speaker 1: same time. And the thinking is that, you know, hey, 251 00:12:43,679 --> 00:12:46,719 Speaker 1: this procedure is in cheap, and there's no guarantee it 252 00:12:46,720 --> 00:12:48,840 Speaker 1: will work the first or even a second time around, 253 00:12:48,880 --> 00:12:52,400 Speaker 1: so let's maximize our chances and hope that at least 254 00:12:52,400 --> 00:12:56,360 Speaker 1: one of these will, you know, be viable. But the catch, 255 00:12:56,600 --> 00:12:59,160 Speaker 1: and this is something we didn't know until more recently, 256 00:12:59,520 --> 00:13:02,880 Speaker 1: is that the odds of conception actually increase with each 257 00:13:03,000 --> 00:13:06,920 Speaker 1: round of IVF, and that's up until the ninth round. Okay, 258 00:13:07,160 --> 00:13:09,079 Speaker 1: I see that makes sense. So if a doctor implants 259 00:13:09,160 --> 00:13:11,680 Speaker 1: multiple embryos in like the fifth or sixth round or 260 00:13:11,720 --> 00:13:14,320 Speaker 1: something like that, then I guess there's a fair chance 261 00:13:14,360 --> 00:13:16,559 Speaker 1: the parent might wind up with two or three, or 262 00:13:17,120 --> 00:13:18,960 Speaker 1: I don't know, heck even eight kids in the case 263 00:13:19,000 --> 00:13:22,400 Speaker 1: of the notorious Optimom Right, Yeah, I know exactly, And 264 00:13:22,840 --> 00:13:25,080 Speaker 1: I mean doctors have caught onto this by now, so 265 00:13:25,160 --> 00:13:27,440 Speaker 1: most of them, you know, won't implant more than two 266 00:13:27,480 --> 00:13:30,640 Speaker 1: embryos at a time anymore. And that's actually a big 267 00:13:30,679 --> 00:13:33,520 Speaker 1: reason why the birth rates for twins remains so high, 268 00:13:33,559 --> 00:13:38,160 Speaker 1: while that of like triplets or higher has dropped significantly. Okay, well, 269 00:13:38,160 --> 00:13:40,280 Speaker 1: there's definitely more twin science that I want to talk 270 00:13:40,280 --> 00:13:42,040 Speaker 1: about before we get back into some of the more 271 00:13:42,080 --> 00:13:44,240 Speaker 1: offbeat stuff. But before we get to that, let's take 272 00:13:44,280 --> 00:14:01,760 Speaker 1: a quick break. You're listening to Part Time Genius and 273 00:14:01,760 --> 00:14:04,400 Speaker 1: we're talking about the double lives of twins. So gave. 274 00:14:04,679 --> 00:14:06,800 Speaker 1: I think most of us have wondered, at one time 275 00:14:06,920 --> 00:14:08,880 Speaker 1: or another what it would be like to have a twin, 276 00:14:09,040 --> 00:14:12,960 Speaker 1: especially an identical one. Now, there's just something strangely appealing 277 00:14:12,960 --> 00:14:15,280 Speaker 1: about sharing, you know, not only the same family and 278 00:14:15,360 --> 00:14:19,080 Speaker 1: childhood experiences, but the same face, the same d n 279 00:14:19,120 --> 00:14:22,080 Speaker 1: A as another person. That must be so interesting. I mean, 280 00:14:22,080 --> 00:14:24,640 Speaker 1: of course they've always had that, but it's it's interesting 281 00:14:24,680 --> 00:14:26,520 Speaker 1: to imagine what it might be like for those of 282 00:14:26,600 --> 00:14:29,040 Speaker 1: us who aren't. Of course, some of that comes down 283 00:14:29,080 --> 00:14:31,080 Speaker 1: to all the fun perks that go with it. You know, 284 00:14:31,120 --> 00:14:34,160 Speaker 1: think about confusing your friends or I don't know, sometimes 285 00:14:34,160 --> 00:14:36,800 Speaker 1: you just want to tag out of those boring social functions, 286 00:14:37,040 --> 00:14:40,080 Speaker 1: not to mention always having the perfect scapegoat for whatever 287 00:14:40,200 --> 00:14:43,360 Speaker 1: crimes you might commit. So, did anything like this ever 288 00:14:43,480 --> 00:14:46,560 Speaker 1: make you wish you had a twin? Yeah? I mean, well, 289 00:14:46,600 --> 00:14:50,640 Speaker 1: maybe not the whole frame your twin angle. I mean 290 00:14:50,680 --> 00:14:53,280 Speaker 1: I definitely daydreamed about it once or twice as a kid, sure, 291 00:14:53,320 --> 00:14:55,280 Speaker 1: And I mean I grew up in the nineties, so 292 00:14:55,520 --> 00:14:57,680 Speaker 1: it was kind of hard not to. Like, twins were 293 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:00,680 Speaker 1: all over pop culture like the old and twins were 294 00:15:00,680 --> 00:15:03,680 Speaker 1: still in the limelight. Plus there were shows like Sister Sister, 295 00:15:04,000 --> 00:15:07,120 Speaker 1: that remake of The Parent Trap with Lindsay Lohan had 296 00:15:07,120 --> 00:15:09,760 Speaker 1: the Weasley twins, and Harry Potter, like the list just 297 00:15:09,800 --> 00:15:11,800 Speaker 1: goes on. Yeah, and I kind of wonder if that 298 00:15:11,880 --> 00:15:14,400 Speaker 1: visibility had anything to do with the twin baby boom 299 00:15:14,440 --> 00:15:16,680 Speaker 1: that we were talking about, because you know, there were 300 00:15:16,720 --> 00:15:18,640 Speaker 1: suddenly more twins in the world and it felt like 301 00:15:18,760 --> 00:15:21,040 Speaker 1: time to give them their due in the media and now. 302 00:15:21,080 --> 00:15:23,320 Speaker 1: Of course, many folks who weren't bombarded with twins growing 303 00:15:23,360 --> 00:15:26,280 Speaker 1: up still find themselves fascinated by the idea of them, 304 00:15:26,600 --> 00:15:28,680 Speaker 1: and some people even feel like they should have been 305 00:15:28,720 --> 00:15:31,640 Speaker 1: born a twin, like something is missing from their lives 306 00:15:31,720 --> 00:15:34,480 Speaker 1: without one, and as it turns out, they just might 307 00:15:34,520 --> 00:15:37,720 Speaker 1: be onto something. So what do you mean by that, Well, 308 00:15:37,760 --> 00:15:40,720 Speaker 1: it's actually said that one in ninety live births resulted 309 00:15:40,760 --> 00:15:44,240 Speaker 1: either fraternal or identical twins, but one in eight of 310 00:15:44,240 --> 00:15:46,920 Speaker 1: those live births actually began as twins, and this is 311 00:15:46,960 --> 00:15:50,440 Speaker 1: something called the vanishing twin phenomenon. And the current thinking 312 00:15:50,520 --> 00:15:52,720 Speaker 1: is that this is either the result of one of 313 00:15:52,720 --> 00:15:55,280 Speaker 1: the twin fetuses being absorbed into either the body of 314 00:15:55,280 --> 00:15:57,840 Speaker 1: the mother or the body of their surviving twin, And 315 00:15:58,280 --> 00:16:00,440 Speaker 1: this is something we've known about for a file now, 316 00:16:00,440 --> 00:16:03,840 Speaker 1: but we still aren't quite sure why it happens. Yeah, 317 00:16:03,880 --> 00:16:06,000 Speaker 1: that's actually pretty creepy, I mean, because it would mean 318 00:16:06,040 --> 00:16:08,400 Speaker 1: a good percentage of us Singleton's had a twin who 319 00:16:08,480 --> 00:16:12,400 Speaker 1: actually vanished sometime during pregnancy, right, is that what you're saying? Yeah, 320 00:16:12,440 --> 00:16:15,800 Speaker 1: I mean somewhere around fIF or more by most counts, 321 00:16:15,800 --> 00:16:18,160 Speaker 1: And this can lead to all kinds of weird effects 322 00:16:18,160 --> 00:16:21,800 Speaker 1: for their surviving twin. Like sometimes when fraternal embryos merge 323 00:16:21,800 --> 00:16:24,440 Speaker 1: into a single body, that person will actually have two 324 00:16:24,480 --> 00:16:27,360 Speaker 1: sets of DNA and different parts of their body. So 325 00:16:27,400 --> 00:16:28,880 Speaker 1: if you were to take a swab of the cheek 326 00:16:28,920 --> 00:16:30,920 Speaker 1: of one of these people, you would get one read out, 327 00:16:30,960 --> 00:16:33,200 Speaker 1: but if you draw their blood you could actually get 328 00:16:33,200 --> 00:16:37,640 Speaker 1: a completely different one. So weird. It's like some kind 329 00:16:37,680 --> 00:16:42,200 Speaker 1: of highly specific, not all that useful superpower, right, But 330 00:16:42,400 --> 00:16:44,880 Speaker 1: you know, there's actually a ton of useful research that's 331 00:16:44,920 --> 00:16:47,720 Speaker 1: come from twins studies. In fact, studying identical twins has 332 00:16:47,720 --> 00:16:50,800 Speaker 1: proven so useful that many researchers now make an annual 333 00:16:50,880 --> 00:16:54,840 Speaker 1: pilgrimage to the appropriately named Twinsburg, Ohio, just for the 334 00:16:54,920 --> 00:16:58,360 Speaker 1: chance to study them in mass alright, so wait, back 335 00:16:58,400 --> 00:17:02,160 Speaker 1: up a second. Is Twinsburg like a town entirely populated 336 00:17:02,160 --> 00:17:05,119 Speaker 1: by twins? I mean not exactly, but it was found that, 337 00:17:05,440 --> 00:17:08,040 Speaker 1: or more like refounded by a set of identical twins 338 00:17:08,080 --> 00:17:10,639 Speaker 1: named Moses and Aaron Wilcox. Now this was back in 339 00:17:10,760 --> 00:17:14,560 Speaker 1: eighteen nineteen. The tiny town was still called Millsville, but 340 00:17:14,600 --> 00:17:17,040 Speaker 1: once the Wilcox twins arrived, they made the town an 341 00:17:17,080 --> 00:17:20,679 Speaker 1: offer that it couldn't refuse, so in exchange for renaming 342 00:17:20,680 --> 00:17:23,879 Speaker 1: the town in their honor, the twins donated six acres 343 00:17:23,880 --> 00:17:26,440 Speaker 1: of land to be used as public space. And if 344 00:17:26,480 --> 00:17:30,000 Speaker 1: that wasn't enough, they even threw in twenty bucks twenty 345 00:17:30,040 --> 00:17:33,200 Speaker 1: whole dollars to help build a new school house. Yeah 346 00:17:33,280 --> 00:17:36,280 Speaker 1: big spenders, huh. But I mean, obviously these guys must 347 00:17:36,280 --> 00:17:39,040 Speaker 1: have taken the twin thing pretty seriously, I guess now. 348 00:17:39,080 --> 00:17:41,160 Speaker 1: I mean, there's no question about that, because not only 349 00:17:41,160 --> 00:17:43,840 Speaker 1: were the Wilcox's business partners for life, they also married 350 00:17:43,880 --> 00:17:46,840 Speaker 1: women who were sisters, had the same number of kids, 351 00:17:47,160 --> 00:17:49,960 Speaker 1: got sick from the same disease, and even died within 352 00:17:50,080 --> 00:17:53,080 Speaker 1: two hours of each other. But they didn't let a 353 00:17:53,119 --> 00:17:55,760 Speaker 1: little thing like death stopped them from twinning it up. 354 00:17:55,800 --> 00:17:58,679 Speaker 1: Because get this, the brothers were actually buried in the 355 00:17:58,880 --> 00:18:02,600 Speaker 1: same grave in Twinsburg, one stacked right on top of 356 00:18:02,680 --> 00:18:05,800 Speaker 1: the other. It's hard to say that, actually, Yeah, alright, 357 00:18:05,840 --> 00:18:08,679 Speaker 1: so clearly they were just you know, nuts. But I mean, 358 00:18:08,720 --> 00:18:10,760 Speaker 1: if the town was just named for one set of 359 00:18:10,800 --> 00:18:13,480 Speaker 1: twins that happened to live there like two hundred years ago, 360 00:18:13,600 --> 00:18:17,560 Speaker 1: then why are researchers still flocking to Twinsburg today. Well, 361 00:18:17,600 --> 00:18:20,840 Speaker 1: because Twinsburg is home to the Twins Day Festival, of course. 362 00:18:20,880 --> 00:18:23,200 Speaker 1: I mean, Gab, I know you've heard of twins Days 363 00:18:23,240 --> 00:18:26,439 Speaker 1: and it's actually the largest annual gathering of twins in 364 00:18:26,480 --> 00:18:29,879 Speaker 1: the free world. Okay, yeah, I actually do remember you guys. 365 00:18:29,880 --> 00:18:32,040 Speaker 1: I think you briefly mentioned this on an episode like 366 00:18:32,119 --> 00:18:35,040 Speaker 1: sometime last year. That's right. This is actually the twenty 367 00:18:35,119 --> 00:18:37,160 Speaker 1: second year of the festival, which by the way, pulls 368 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:41,359 Speaker 1: in between two to three thousand sets of multiples each year. 369 00:18:41,760 --> 00:18:44,600 Speaker 1: So the weekend typically features you know, themed events for 370 00:18:44,640 --> 00:18:47,720 Speaker 1: twins and they get to compete in these different contests, 371 00:18:47,760 --> 00:18:51,240 Speaker 1: live performances, cook offs, like you name it. In fact, 372 00:18:51,280 --> 00:18:53,480 Speaker 1: I was poking around on the event's website and apparently 373 00:18:53,560 --> 00:18:56,600 Speaker 1: the theme this year is two player mode, so attendees 374 00:18:56,600 --> 00:18:59,080 Speaker 1: are encouraged to dress up like their favorite video game 375 00:18:59,240 --> 00:19:02,440 Speaker 1: or board game characters. Oh wow, that actually sounds pretty 376 00:19:02,440 --> 00:19:04,879 Speaker 1: fun to me. But there's gonna be so many Mario's 377 00:19:04,960 --> 00:19:08,480 Speaker 1: and Luigi's running around that weekend, can even imagine. But 378 00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:10,680 Speaker 1: you know, aside from all the fun and games, there's 379 00:19:10,720 --> 00:19:13,359 Speaker 1: also the research Plaza, and this is where hundreds of 380 00:19:13,359 --> 00:19:16,040 Speaker 1: researchers set up shop, and then they're looking to get 381 00:19:16,040 --> 00:19:18,480 Speaker 1: help with their projects from the many identical twins that 382 00:19:18,520 --> 00:19:20,760 Speaker 1: are there in attendance. So what kind of stuff are 383 00:19:20,800 --> 00:19:23,199 Speaker 1: they working on? All kinds of stuff. I mean, one 384 00:19:23,240 --> 00:19:25,400 Speaker 1: of the hottest fields right now is, of course, facial 385 00:19:25,440 --> 00:19:28,119 Speaker 1: recognition technology. We've talked about this in a couple of 386 00:19:28,119 --> 00:19:31,680 Speaker 1: recent episodes, and it's obviously of interest to anyone from 387 00:19:31,720 --> 00:19:34,199 Speaker 1: Apple to the FBI. And you know, one of the 388 00:19:34,200 --> 00:19:37,040 Speaker 1: best ways to test accuracy of this kind of software 389 00:19:37,359 --> 00:19:39,600 Speaker 1: is actually to see if the program can spot these 390 00:19:39,640 --> 00:19:44,159 Speaker 1: often minute differences between identical twins. But more broadly, twins 391 00:19:44,200 --> 00:19:46,879 Speaker 1: are a great way to tackle the old nature versus 392 00:19:46,960 --> 00:19:50,119 Speaker 1: nurture problem because you know, by observing and testing the 393 00:19:50,119 --> 00:19:53,320 Speaker 1: development and even the decay of these identical twins, you 394 00:19:53,359 --> 00:19:56,040 Speaker 1: wind up with a pretty effective and natural way to 395 00:19:56,080 --> 00:20:00,199 Speaker 1: help distinguish between these environmental factors and the genetic ones. So, 396 00:20:00,240 --> 00:20:02,920 Speaker 1: for example, imagine a pair of identical twins. You know, 397 00:20:02,960 --> 00:20:05,680 Speaker 1: they exhibit a trait of shyness or something like that, 398 00:20:05,720 --> 00:20:08,800 Speaker 1: for example, maybe more so than a pair of fraternal twins. 399 00:20:09,240 --> 00:20:11,320 Speaker 1: And if you see this, maybe that suggests that that 400 00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:14,600 Speaker 1: similarity and shyness is due to these genes, which would 401 00:20:14,640 --> 00:20:17,120 Speaker 1: be the nature piece of this rather than the environment, 402 00:20:17,160 --> 00:20:20,880 Speaker 1: which is of course the nurture piece. Yeah, that's really interesting. 403 00:20:21,240 --> 00:20:24,640 Speaker 1: I'm curious that is shyness just a random example you picked, 404 00:20:24,720 --> 00:20:27,000 Speaker 1: or is that really something twin studies have helped with 405 00:20:27,440 --> 00:20:29,200 Speaker 1: Now that this is this is a real one, and 406 00:20:29,200 --> 00:20:32,080 Speaker 1: and thanks to the twins, that's just one personality trait 407 00:20:32,160 --> 00:20:35,840 Speaker 1: that researchers now believe is at least somewhat determined by genetics. 408 00:20:35,840 --> 00:20:38,720 Speaker 1: But there are many others too, like the willingness to 409 00:20:38,760 --> 00:20:41,760 Speaker 1: take risk, and even the likelihood that someone will hold 410 00:20:41,800 --> 00:20:44,560 Speaker 1: religious beliefs like those have been linked to our genes 411 00:20:44,640 --> 00:20:47,159 Speaker 1: as a result of twins studies. And it's not just 412 00:20:47,240 --> 00:20:50,960 Speaker 1: psychological or personal traits either. Twin studies have proven that 413 00:20:51,000 --> 00:20:54,159 Speaker 1: the genetic risk of inheriting a whole host of diseases, 414 00:20:54,440 --> 00:20:59,200 Speaker 1: think about things like asthma osteoporosa's heart disease and others. 415 00:20:59,240 --> 00:21:02,520 Speaker 1: That there's that nection. Wow, And I mean this is 416 00:21:02,560 --> 00:21:04,280 Speaker 1: the stuff that's you know, the result of the kind 417 00:21:04,280 --> 00:21:06,679 Speaker 1: of research that goes on at these twin festivals. Like 418 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:09,240 Speaker 1: how does that work? Because I mean I'm picturing a 419 00:21:09,280 --> 00:21:11,399 Speaker 1: bunch of twins just kind of running a gauntlet of 420 00:21:11,440 --> 00:21:14,600 Speaker 1: like blood tests and X rays and whatever else. It 421 00:21:15,160 --> 00:21:18,280 Speaker 1: sounds weird, but that's pretty much how it works. And 422 00:21:18,320 --> 00:21:20,440 Speaker 1: you know, if the attendees feel like lending a hand, 423 00:21:20,480 --> 00:21:22,720 Speaker 1: they're all kinds of ways for them to help out, 424 00:21:22,760 --> 00:21:26,200 Speaker 1: everything from filling out surveys to having their picture taken, 425 00:21:26,560 --> 00:21:29,720 Speaker 1: maybe submitting a DNA sample through their hair or their spit. 426 00:21:29,880 --> 00:21:32,240 Speaker 1: But here's a rundown of the battery of tests that 427 00:21:32,320 --> 00:21:35,360 Speaker 1: a set of twins went through at the last Twinsday festival. 428 00:21:35,920 --> 00:21:38,040 Speaker 1: Here's a quote from one of them. We were recorded 429 00:21:38,080 --> 00:21:41,520 Speaker 1: reading the same strange passage about rainbows and pots of gold, 430 00:21:41,880 --> 00:21:43,840 Speaker 1: so that a computer program could try to tell us 431 00:21:43,880 --> 00:21:47,200 Speaker 1: apart by voiceprint. We submitted spit to have our DNA 432 00:21:47,320 --> 00:21:51,280 Speaker 1: sequence to confirm our identicality. We sipped and swished shots 433 00:21:51,280 --> 00:21:54,480 Speaker 1: of milk to gauge ability to taste fat and clear 434 00:21:54,520 --> 00:21:57,639 Speaker 1: liquid tinctures to measure our sensitivity to sweet and bitter. 435 00:21:57,960 --> 00:22:00,720 Speaker 1: And we took surveys on social media use and online 436 00:22:00,720 --> 00:22:04,120 Speaker 1: news habits to see if we're both news junkies. Wow, 437 00:22:04,440 --> 00:22:06,679 Speaker 1: it still sounds pretty strange, but it is cool that 438 00:22:06,800 --> 00:22:09,400 Speaker 1: so many twins and multiples are willing to help out 439 00:22:09,440 --> 00:22:11,960 Speaker 1: like that. So, I mean it's probably sort of nice 440 00:22:12,000 --> 00:22:14,000 Speaker 1: to feel like the bell of the ball like that, right, 441 00:22:14,040 --> 00:22:17,440 Speaker 1: I mean, you have all these researchers tripping over themselves 442 00:22:17,440 --> 00:22:20,160 Speaker 1: just to get a look at your saliva or whatever. Yeah, 443 00:22:20,160 --> 00:22:22,439 Speaker 1: it's true. And you know it's not just their egos 444 00:22:22,520 --> 00:22:24,720 Speaker 1: that that benefit from all the attention. I mean, twin 445 00:22:24,760 --> 00:22:27,720 Speaker 1: participants are usually given some sort of compensation for their 446 00:22:27,760 --> 00:22:29,960 Speaker 1: time as well. I was looking into this to see 447 00:22:29,960 --> 00:22:32,120 Speaker 1: if they were were paid at all, and that's typically 448 00:22:32,680 --> 00:22:35,720 Speaker 1: you know, ten to fifteen bucks, but more importantly, usually 449 00:22:35,720 --> 00:22:37,720 Speaker 1: some sort of gift back, Gabe, So I get it. 450 00:22:37,720 --> 00:22:40,280 Speaker 1: I see why they participate. Yeah, and now I definitely 451 00:22:40,320 --> 00:22:42,920 Speaker 1: wish I had a twin. You know, I don't want 452 00:22:43,000 --> 00:22:45,119 Speaker 1: all of this to go to their heads. So what 453 00:22:45,160 --> 00:22:47,080 Speaker 1: do you say we shift gears and talk about some 454 00:22:47,240 --> 00:22:50,600 Speaker 1: unique twins of the non human variety. All right, let's 455 00:22:50,600 --> 00:22:52,160 Speaker 1: do it. But before we do that, let's take one 456 00:22:52,200 --> 00:23:09,760 Speaker 1: more quick break. Al Right, Well, so far we've stuck 457 00:23:09,760 --> 00:23:13,000 Speaker 1: two cases of human twins, both natural and supernatural, and 458 00:23:13,400 --> 00:23:16,560 Speaker 1: that's largely because twins, or at least the identical kind, 459 00:23:16,760 --> 00:23:20,200 Speaker 1: we're pretty rare outside of our own species. But now 460 00:23:20,240 --> 00:23:22,240 Speaker 1: I thought we could widen our scope just a bit 461 00:23:22,280 --> 00:23:24,720 Speaker 1: and maybe do kind of a rapid fire around to 462 00:23:24,840 --> 00:23:27,280 Speaker 1: cover some of the more unusual sets of twins we 463 00:23:27,320 --> 00:23:29,560 Speaker 1: came across this week. Yeah, that makes sense. And actually, 464 00:23:29,640 --> 00:23:31,560 Speaker 1: let's stick to animals for a minute, because what you 465 00:23:31,600 --> 00:23:33,879 Speaker 1: pointed out that was actually something I didn't know before. 466 00:23:33,880 --> 00:23:36,720 Speaker 1: We were doing our research for this episode, and I 467 00:23:36,760 --> 00:23:39,679 Speaker 1: came across a recent case where an animal totally bucked 468 00:23:39,680 --> 00:23:42,359 Speaker 1: that no twins trend that you mentioned. And this happened 469 00:23:42,400 --> 00:23:45,680 Speaker 1: in August of two thousand sixteen, when a veterinarian named 470 00:23:45,760 --> 00:23:49,400 Speaker 1: Kurt D. Cramer was performing a surgery in Johannesburg, South Africa, 471 00:23:49,840 --> 00:23:52,280 Speaker 1: and his patient was this Irish wolf found who was 472 00:23:52,320 --> 00:23:55,360 Speaker 1: in dire need of a C section. This is kind 473 00:23:55,359 --> 00:23:57,200 Speaker 1: of embarrassing, you might laugh at me, But an Irish 474 00:23:57,280 --> 00:24:00,479 Speaker 1: wolf found. That's that's some kind of dog, right. It's 475 00:24:00,520 --> 00:24:03,560 Speaker 1: not like a wolf or something spoken like a like 476 00:24:03,600 --> 00:24:06,280 Speaker 1: a true cat. Person there gay, but yes, this is 477 00:24:06,320 --> 00:24:09,520 Speaker 1: in fact the dog. All right, please continue? Okay, sod 478 00:24:09,600 --> 00:24:11,560 Speaker 1: Cramer is in there and he's doing his thing when 479 00:24:11,560 --> 00:24:15,399 Speaker 1: he comes across something he's never encountered before. To live 480 00:24:15,440 --> 00:24:19,000 Speaker 1: puppies attached to the same placenta. Now, right off the bat, 481 00:24:19,000 --> 00:24:22,080 Speaker 1: the vet suspects that this means the puppies were identical twins, 482 00:24:22,520 --> 00:24:25,600 Speaker 1: even though their markings were somewhat different. But a blood 483 00:24:25,600 --> 00:24:28,600 Speaker 1: test actually confirmed the suspicion, and the two pups, named 484 00:24:28,640 --> 00:24:32,320 Speaker 1: Cullen and Romulus, were officially declared as the first identical 485 00:24:32,359 --> 00:24:37,320 Speaker 1: twin puppies ever discovered. Twin puppies. I'm not a big 486 00:24:37,359 --> 00:24:39,400 Speaker 1: fan of dogs, but I have to admit that even 487 00:24:39,440 --> 00:24:42,359 Speaker 1: makes my heart melt a little bit. I'm curious, like, 488 00:24:42,400 --> 00:24:45,280 Speaker 1: did you read anything about why twins are so rare 489 00:24:45,280 --> 00:24:47,439 Speaker 1: and other species? Yeah? I did. I was reading a 490 00:24:47,440 --> 00:24:50,040 Speaker 1: little bit on this. The way the BBC explained it 491 00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:52,240 Speaker 1: is that the placenta of other animals that they just 492 00:24:52,320 --> 00:24:56,040 Speaker 1: aren't able to support two fetuses at once. It's although 493 00:24:56,080 --> 00:24:59,000 Speaker 1: identical twins might form in the wounds of other animals 494 00:24:59,040 --> 00:25:02,960 Speaker 1: pretty often, rarely if ever carried to term. So when 495 00:25:02,960 --> 00:25:04,720 Speaker 1: you think about it, those little pups were really one 496 00:25:04,760 --> 00:25:07,280 Speaker 1: in a million. But you know, okay, before you say 497 00:25:07,280 --> 00:25:09,640 Speaker 1: anything about this, just don't tell their five letter mates. 498 00:25:09,680 --> 00:25:14,800 Speaker 1: They're probably already feeling a little overshadowed by all this already. Well, 499 00:25:14,840 --> 00:25:16,840 Speaker 1: you have got to stop making me sympathetic to dogs. 500 00:25:16,840 --> 00:25:19,240 Speaker 1: That that's my goal here today. Gave just making you 501 00:25:19,320 --> 00:25:23,800 Speaker 1: sympathetic to dogs. Finally, Okay, well, I'll see your identical 502 00:25:23,800 --> 00:25:26,800 Speaker 1: twin puppies story, and I will raise you one about 503 00:25:26,800 --> 00:25:32,000 Speaker 1: a carton of eggs that all contained double yolks. I 504 00:25:32,000 --> 00:25:34,320 Speaker 1: didn't know where you're going this, but I don't feel 505 00:25:34,320 --> 00:25:36,640 Speaker 1: like that's anywhere near as endearing as the puppy story. 506 00:25:36,640 --> 00:25:38,679 Speaker 1: But but go ahead, Well, yeah, we can let the 507 00:25:38,720 --> 00:25:41,520 Speaker 1: listeners be the judge of that, because this story doesn't 508 00:25:41,600 --> 00:25:44,520 Speaker 1: have the most emotional appeal. But it's still a really 509 00:25:44,560 --> 00:25:46,679 Speaker 1: strange one. And you know, it helps to know that 510 00:25:46,720 --> 00:25:49,400 Speaker 1: it's pretty uncommon for a hen to lay an egg 511 00:25:49,440 --> 00:25:52,480 Speaker 1: with two yolks. In fact, your odds of finding a 512 00:25:52,480 --> 00:25:55,560 Speaker 1: double yolked egg or about one in a thousand. It's 513 00:25:55,600 --> 00:25:59,800 Speaker 1: so unlikely that some European folklore actually interprets finding even 514 00:26:00,040 --> 00:26:02,440 Speaker 1: one of these eggs as a sign of good fortune 515 00:26:02,680 --> 00:26:05,159 Speaker 1: or even as foreshadowing, you know, for the birth of 516 00:26:05,240 --> 00:26:08,159 Speaker 1: human twins. Actually, it's kind of a nice change of 517 00:26:08,160 --> 00:26:10,760 Speaker 1: pace from all the folklore about twins being bad omens. 518 00:26:10,760 --> 00:26:13,439 Speaker 1: But but you said, somebody found a whole carton of 519 00:26:13,480 --> 00:26:16,720 Speaker 1: double yolks? So what what kind of omen is that? Yeah? 520 00:26:16,760 --> 00:26:19,080 Speaker 1: I have no idea really, but I mean the seventeen 521 00:26:19,119 --> 00:26:21,560 Speaker 1: year old who have found the full dozen, he took 522 00:26:21,600 --> 00:26:23,320 Speaker 1: it as a sign that, you know, he should probably 523 00:26:23,320 --> 00:26:26,879 Speaker 1: buy some lottery tickets. That. To be fair, most eggs 524 00:26:26,880 --> 00:26:30,399 Speaker 1: sold in stores are packaged by weight, so that increases 525 00:26:30,440 --> 00:26:33,159 Speaker 1: the odds of double yolks being packaged together, and you 526 00:26:33,160 --> 00:26:36,080 Speaker 1: know cartons of heavier like jumbo eggs for for instance. 527 00:26:36,640 --> 00:26:39,280 Speaker 1: But finding a full run like that is still super rare, 528 00:26:39,400 --> 00:26:41,520 Speaker 1: and you know it would never really happen outside of 529 00:26:41,520 --> 00:26:44,440 Speaker 1: a grocery store. All right, Well, I mean I still 530 00:26:44,440 --> 00:26:47,200 Speaker 1: feel like the twin puppies were better. But but but 531 00:26:47,200 --> 00:26:49,000 Speaker 1: but let's move on from the animal world and talk 532 00:26:49,000 --> 00:26:51,280 Speaker 1: about a very different type of twin. I mean, a 533 00:26:51,400 --> 00:26:54,040 Speaker 1: very different type of twin and a strangely named one, 534 00:26:54,359 --> 00:26:57,240 Speaker 1: the twin bed. Oh god, I'm so glad you're bringing 535 00:26:57,280 --> 00:26:59,560 Speaker 1: this up, because you know what, I've always thought that 536 00:26:59,600 --> 00:27:01,920 Speaker 1: was a weird term. Like, I mean, I only had 537 00:27:02,040 --> 00:27:04,200 Speaker 1: one of them as a kid, so it just makes 538 00:27:04,240 --> 00:27:06,639 Speaker 1: it sound like you have like in a strange bed 539 00:27:06,800 --> 00:27:09,400 Speaker 1: or something like. There's just some long lost twin bed 540 00:27:09,440 --> 00:27:12,640 Speaker 1: out there that was carved from the same tree. And well, 541 00:27:12,640 --> 00:27:14,359 Speaker 1: to be fair, actually the U s is the only 542 00:27:14,400 --> 00:27:16,879 Speaker 1: place that seems to have this problem, you know, just 543 00:27:16,920 --> 00:27:19,440 Speaker 1: looking at what they call it in other countries. In England, 544 00:27:19,440 --> 00:27:21,879 Speaker 1: for example, a one person bed is just called a 545 00:27:21,920 --> 00:27:24,520 Speaker 1: single and then the term twin bed is really only 546 00:27:24,600 --> 00:27:27,040 Speaker 1: used in cases where you actually have two single beds 547 00:27:27,040 --> 00:27:29,520 Speaker 1: in the same room. Okay, well, I mean hats off 548 00:27:29,520 --> 00:27:31,560 Speaker 1: to the UK then, because if that's the case, then 549 00:27:31,560 --> 00:27:35,199 Speaker 1: they are doing beds right. Okay, you obviously looked into this. 550 00:27:35,280 --> 00:27:38,919 Speaker 1: So how did the selling point for single person beds 551 00:27:38,920 --> 00:27:41,040 Speaker 1: become the fact that you know, you could if you 552 00:27:41,080 --> 00:27:44,040 Speaker 1: wanted by two of them, like we're bed makers marketing 553 00:27:44,119 --> 00:27:47,040 Speaker 1: specifically to families with twins or what. Well, it's not 554 00:27:47,080 --> 00:27:49,040 Speaker 1: a bad guess, but it actually has more to do 555 00:27:49,119 --> 00:27:51,479 Speaker 1: with married couples than it does with their children. I mean, 556 00:27:51,480 --> 00:27:54,000 Speaker 1: you've probably seen old episodes of certain TV shows like 557 00:27:54,040 --> 00:27:56,520 Speaker 1: I Love Lucy or you know something, where the married 558 00:27:56,600 --> 00:28:00,040 Speaker 1: characters sleep and separate twin beds, and that was it 559 00:28:00,200 --> 00:28:03,400 Speaker 1: just for TV. Like twin marital beds were common both 560 00:28:03,440 --> 00:28:05,800 Speaker 1: in the US and England right up until the late 561 00:28:05,880 --> 00:28:08,800 Speaker 1: sixties and even in the early seventies when they were 562 00:28:08,840 --> 00:28:13,320 Speaker 1: finally deemed like prudish and kind of old fashioned. All right, 563 00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:15,199 Speaker 1: But I mean, how was that ever the fashion in 564 00:28:15,240 --> 00:28:18,080 Speaker 1: the first place. Like, I know, some research claims that 565 00:28:18,480 --> 00:28:20,840 Speaker 1: like couples sleep better when they sleep in different beds, 566 00:28:20,880 --> 00:28:24,240 Speaker 1: but if we're talking about like the nineteen thirties and forties, 567 00:28:24,680 --> 00:28:28,040 Speaker 1: it was probably some kind of puritanical concern, right, like 568 00:28:28,320 --> 00:28:30,719 Speaker 1: something to do with morality. Yes, I was looking at 569 00:28:30,720 --> 00:28:33,600 Speaker 1: the origins of the practice, and it seems like sleeping 570 00:28:33,600 --> 00:28:36,800 Speaker 1: in separate beds has always been tangled up in concerns 571 00:28:36,840 --> 00:28:40,320 Speaker 1: over everything from morality and social status to of course 572 00:28:40,360 --> 00:28:43,440 Speaker 1: potential health risk. Like I was reading this great article 573 00:28:43,440 --> 00:28:46,680 Speaker 1: on Atlas Obscura that explained how communal sleeping was. It 574 00:28:46,720 --> 00:28:49,880 Speaker 1: was really the norm for entire families, not just couples. 575 00:28:49,880 --> 00:28:52,760 Speaker 1: And this was right up until the Victorian era. But 576 00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:55,480 Speaker 1: once the upper class began as signing separate bedrooms to 577 00:28:55,560 --> 00:28:58,840 Speaker 1: family members, the public gradually came to see communal beds 578 00:28:58,840 --> 00:29:03,160 Speaker 1: as unsanitari and decidedly low class. Even then, as the 579 00:29:03,240 --> 00:29:06,160 Speaker 1: nineteenth century war on, you know, people started to worry 580 00:29:06,200 --> 00:29:08,840 Speaker 1: that it might even be dangerous for married couples to 581 00:29:08,880 --> 00:29:11,280 Speaker 1: sleep in the same bed. For example, there was this 582 00:29:11,360 --> 00:29:14,960 Speaker 1: housekeeping guide published in eighteen ninety two that warned readers 583 00:29:14,960 --> 00:29:17,960 Speaker 1: that quote, the air which surrounds the body under the 584 00:29:17,960 --> 00:29:21,920 Speaker 1: bedclothing is exceedingly impure, as it has been impregnated with 585 00:29:22,000 --> 00:29:25,440 Speaker 1: the poisonous substances that escaped through the pores of the skin. 586 00:29:25,560 --> 00:29:27,520 Speaker 1: I just love that line for some reason. Yeah, that 587 00:29:27,680 --> 00:29:30,680 Speaker 1: is so ridiculous. It's really it's it's hard to imagine 588 00:29:30,720 --> 00:29:34,120 Speaker 1: couples sleeping in separate beds for like over a hundred years, 589 00:29:34,160 --> 00:29:36,920 Speaker 1: just on the strength of arguments like that, I know, 590 00:29:37,080 --> 00:29:38,920 Speaker 1: but it's it's true they did. But to be fair, 591 00:29:38,960 --> 00:29:41,320 Speaker 1: there's reason to think that some good did come from 592 00:29:41,320 --> 00:29:44,760 Speaker 1: this twin bed arrangement because as the women's rights movement 593 00:29:44,800 --> 00:29:47,960 Speaker 1: came to the forefront in the late nineteenth century, separate 594 00:29:47,960 --> 00:29:51,120 Speaker 1: marriage beds came to symbolize this shift in power between 595 00:29:51,240 --> 00:29:54,080 Speaker 1: husbands and wives. So this is how an author named 596 00:29:54,120 --> 00:29:57,120 Speaker 1: Hillary Hines described this shift in an article called Together 597 00:29:57,320 --> 00:30:00,760 Speaker 1: and Apart. Here's what she writes. Twin bed are visually 598 00:30:00,840 --> 00:30:03,000 Speaker 1: equal to each other. They take up the same amount 599 00:30:03,000 --> 00:30:05,840 Speaker 1: of space. There's a kind of pause between one bed 600 00:30:05,960 --> 00:30:08,440 Speaker 1: and the other. There would have to be some kind 601 00:30:08,440 --> 00:30:11,880 Speaker 1: of conscious negotiation or at least some conscious decision to 602 00:30:11,960 --> 00:30:14,880 Speaker 1: move from one to the other. Isn't that wild? Like? 603 00:30:14,880 --> 00:30:16,600 Speaker 1: Who would have thought the twin bed could be a 604 00:30:16,680 --> 00:30:20,400 Speaker 1: symbol of early feminism? Yeah, that is pretty cool. See, 605 00:30:20,400 --> 00:30:22,520 Speaker 1: I'm glad we're thinking outside the box with some of 606 00:30:22,520 --> 00:30:24,840 Speaker 1: these twins. And and actually for this last one, I 607 00:30:24,840 --> 00:30:27,480 Speaker 1: want to think way outside the box, all the way 608 00:30:27,520 --> 00:30:30,600 Speaker 1: to outer space in fact, because it turns out twins 609 00:30:30,600 --> 00:30:33,760 Speaker 1: aren't something that's exclusive to life on Earth. According to 610 00:30:33,800 --> 00:30:38,120 Speaker 1: a report from Harvard and UC Berkeley, just about every 611 00:30:38,240 --> 00:30:40,880 Speaker 1: star in the sky is likely born with a twin, 612 00:30:41,280 --> 00:30:44,640 Speaker 1: including our very own son. And you know, they determine 613 00:30:44,680 --> 00:30:47,960 Speaker 1: this after noticing this peculiar distribution powder and of a 614 00:30:48,000 --> 00:30:52,120 Speaker 1: crop of newborn stars. And this was in the constellation Perseus. 615 00:30:52,120 --> 00:30:54,160 Speaker 1: So the study authors they tried a bunch of different 616 00:30:54,200 --> 00:30:57,520 Speaker 1: mathematical models to explain why the stars ended up in 617 00:30:57,560 --> 00:31:00,640 Speaker 1: their specific locations, but in the end, only one of 618 00:31:00,680 --> 00:31:03,720 Speaker 1: them made sense with what they were seeing. And that's 619 00:31:03,720 --> 00:31:07,160 Speaker 1: the idea that most stars had twins at one point. Right, 620 00:31:07,240 --> 00:31:09,800 Speaker 1: So the idea is that any star with a sun 621 00:31:09,840 --> 00:31:13,320 Speaker 1: like mass is likely born with a distant twin, and 622 00:31:13,400 --> 00:31:16,800 Speaker 1: after about a million years or so, roughly of those 623 00:31:16,840 --> 00:31:20,480 Speaker 1: twins move in closer to one another, while the majority 624 00:31:20,640 --> 00:31:24,200 Speaker 1: tends to split up and go their separate ways. You know, 625 00:31:24,280 --> 00:31:26,280 Speaker 1: you know it, gave. I have to be honest, it's 626 00:31:26,320 --> 00:31:29,320 Speaker 1: always sad when families drift apart, even these cosmic ones 627 00:31:29,360 --> 00:31:32,240 Speaker 1: that you're mentioning. Yeah, that's true. But in the case 628 00:31:32,280 --> 00:31:34,840 Speaker 1: of the sun that lights up our own galaxy, we 629 00:31:34,920 --> 00:31:37,320 Speaker 1: actually might have dodged a bullet into What do you 630 00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:41,320 Speaker 1: mean by that? Well, researchers of long hypothesize that our 631 00:31:41,440 --> 00:31:44,000 Speaker 1: son once had a non identical twin of its own, 632 00:31:44,440 --> 00:31:47,720 Speaker 1: one that eventually escaped the gravitational pull of our Sun 633 00:31:48,200 --> 00:31:51,400 Speaker 1: and then spiraled off into some other galaxy. And so 634 00:31:51,480 --> 00:31:53,440 Speaker 1: I say we dodged a bullet on that because there's 635 00:31:53,520 --> 00:31:56,880 Speaker 1: reason to think that this missing twin was actually the 636 00:31:56,960 --> 00:32:00,320 Speaker 1: evil one. So in fact, scientists even have a name 637 00:32:00,400 --> 00:32:05,040 Speaker 1: for this theoretical son. Get this, They call it nemesis. Okay, 638 00:32:05,280 --> 00:32:08,040 Speaker 1: I feel like we're full circle on the evil twin thing, 639 00:32:08,160 --> 00:32:09,920 Speaker 1: and all right, so I'll buy it on this one. 640 00:32:09,920 --> 00:32:13,160 Speaker 1: What exactly makes the sun evil? Okay? So you know 641 00:32:13,200 --> 00:32:17,400 Speaker 1: that asteroid that's supposedly wiped out all the dinosaurs, Well, 642 00:32:17,520 --> 00:32:20,560 Speaker 1: researchers suspect that the nemesis son was the one that 643 00:32:20,680 --> 00:32:23,640 Speaker 1: knocked it into Earth's orbit in the first place. Okay, 644 00:32:23,880 --> 00:32:26,120 Speaker 1: all right, well, I will admit you have won me over. 645 00:32:26,200 --> 00:32:29,560 Speaker 1: Like depriving the world of dinosaurs is about as evil 646 00:32:29,680 --> 00:32:32,480 Speaker 1: as it gets. But to avoid going out on a 647 00:32:32,520 --> 00:32:34,760 Speaker 1: sour note, what do you say we dedicate today's fact 648 00:32:34,800 --> 00:32:37,240 Speaker 1: off to some of the more upbeat and non evil 649 00:32:37,280 --> 00:32:40,840 Speaker 1: twins out there. Okay, yeah, so like the kind that 650 00:32:41,080 --> 00:32:45,040 Speaker 1: didn't prompt extinction level events, right exactly. It kind of 651 00:32:45,040 --> 00:32:46,960 Speaker 1: feels like a long shot, but sure, let's give it 652 00:32:47,000 --> 00:32:56,280 Speaker 1: a dry m all right, Well, then you know, it's 653 00:32:56,280 --> 00:32:58,600 Speaker 1: actually possible to have twins who are the offspring of 654 00:32:58,720 --> 00:33:01,800 Speaker 1: two different authors. In fact, there was even a court 655 00:33:01,800 --> 00:33:04,080 Speaker 1: case in New Jersey a few years ago where a 656 00:33:04,120 --> 00:33:06,240 Speaker 1: mother of twins claimed that a certain man was the 657 00:33:06,280 --> 00:33:09,200 Speaker 1: father of these children. So he took a paternity test 658 00:33:09,520 --> 00:33:11,560 Speaker 1: and they found that he was in fact the father, 659 00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:14,920 Speaker 1: but only of one of them. According to this DNA test, 660 00:33:15,200 --> 00:33:18,000 Speaker 1: and biologists have shown that one in every twelve pairs 661 00:33:18,040 --> 00:33:22,000 Speaker 1: of fraternal twins are born from successful fertilizations that occurred 662 00:33:22,000 --> 00:33:25,160 Speaker 1: at two different times, and in some cases that might 663 00:33:25,200 --> 00:33:29,000 Speaker 1: mean from different men. Wow, I've actually never heard that before. 664 00:33:29,080 --> 00:33:31,680 Speaker 1: But okay, I know you spent a lot of time 665 00:33:31,680 --> 00:33:33,400 Speaker 1: in New York. Did you ever get the chance to 666 00:33:33,400 --> 00:33:36,360 Speaker 1: go to, uh, the Twins restaurant in NYC? This was 667 00:33:36,440 --> 00:33:39,000 Speaker 1: maybe back in the mid nineties. I didn't, and honestly 668 00:33:39,000 --> 00:33:41,840 Speaker 1: I've never heard of it. Well, you missed out, because 669 00:33:41,880 --> 00:33:44,440 Speaker 1: it must have been a pretty interesting place to visit, 670 00:33:44,720 --> 00:33:47,760 Speaker 1: because other than the chef and the restaurant manager, everyone 671 00:33:47,840 --> 00:33:51,160 Speaker 1: else who worked there was an identical twin. And in fact, 672 00:33:51,160 --> 00:33:54,040 Speaker 1: there were twenty nine sets of twins working as the 673 00:33:54,040 --> 00:33:57,400 Speaker 1: waite staff, bartenders, hosts, and hostesses and and so on. 674 00:33:57,680 --> 00:33:59,720 Speaker 1: And each set of these twins would work at the 675 00:33:59,760 --> 00:34:03,080 Speaker 1: same time, where the same clothing, and of course if 676 00:34:03,120 --> 00:34:05,840 Speaker 1: one called in sick or even got fired, then you 677 00:34:05,880 --> 00:34:07,720 Speaker 1: know the other one had to follow that their lead 678 00:34:07,760 --> 00:34:11,200 Speaker 1: and not come in or have employment either. So, as 679 00:34:11,320 --> 00:34:13,800 Speaker 1: Ruth Rachael from The New York Times put it, quote, 680 00:34:14,040 --> 00:34:17,839 Speaker 1: Twins sounds like a pretty silly gimmick until you get there, 681 00:34:18,320 --> 00:34:20,600 Speaker 1: when you're greeted at the door by two gorgeous and 682 00:34:20,680 --> 00:34:23,879 Speaker 1: identical hostesses. Then glance at the bar to find two 683 00:34:23,960 --> 00:34:27,880 Speaker 1: identical men pouring drinks. The idea begins to grow on you. 684 00:34:28,360 --> 00:34:32,399 Speaker 1: So unfortunately, twins did close in two thousand, but every 685 00:34:32,440 --> 00:34:34,040 Speaker 1: once in a while you'll hear talk of a new 686 00:34:34,080 --> 00:34:36,440 Speaker 1: one opening up, so, you know, keep your fingers crossed. 687 00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:38,879 Speaker 1: I'm kind of surprised that that didn't make it. That's 688 00:34:38,880 --> 00:34:41,920 Speaker 1: an interesting idea. All right, Well, let's talk longevity, and 689 00:34:42,120 --> 00:34:44,840 Speaker 1: it turns out that identical twins are more likely to 690 00:34:44,920 --> 00:34:48,400 Speaker 1: make it to retirement age than the general population. Our 691 00:34:48,440 --> 00:34:50,799 Speaker 1: researchers believe that, you know, part of this might be 692 00:34:50,880 --> 00:34:53,760 Speaker 1: the social bond between them, and we've talked about before 693 00:34:53,800 --> 00:34:57,520 Speaker 1: that that power of meaningful human connections and longevity. But 694 00:34:57,800 --> 00:35:00,840 Speaker 1: there actually maybe another contributing factor. So think about the 695 00:35:00,880 --> 00:35:04,440 Speaker 1: fact that most twins were born prematurely, so in times 696 00:35:04,440 --> 00:35:07,160 Speaker 1: when they had to work harder to survive, they were 697 00:35:07,239 --> 00:35:09,960 Speaker 1: building up a resiliency that actually may have helped them 698 00:35:10,000 --> 00:35:13,200 Speaker 1: live longer. That makes sense. Well, I was reading a 699 00:35:13,239 --> 00:35:15,879 Speaker 1: few stories of some twins who you know, have remarkably 700 00:35:15,960 --> 00:35:19,480 Speaker 1: similar lives and that's despite being separated at birth, and 701 00:35:19,520 --> 00:35:21,200 Speaker 1: the one that stood out maybe the most to me 702 00:35:21,360 --> 00:35:24,960 Speaker 1: was that of two brothers, Jim Lewis and Jim Springer, 703 00:35:25,040 --> 00:35:28,560 Speaker 1: who were each adopted in and didn't come back together 704 00:35:28,640 --> 00:35:32,080 Speaker 1: until they were nearly forty years old. And despite all 705 00:35:32,080 --> 00:35:35,440 Speaker 1: that time apart, just listen to what they had in common. Okay, 706 00:35:35,480 --> 00:35:38,560 Speaker 1: They were both given the name Jim by their respective 707 00:35:38,600 --> 00:35:42,120 Speaker 1: adoptive families. They were both married twice, first two women 708 00:35:42,239 --> 00:35:46,280 Speaker 1: named Linda and then two women named be. They both 709 00:35:46,320 --> 00:35:49,479 Speaker 1: grew up with dogs named Toy, and they both had 710 00:35:49,520 --> 00:35:53,640 Speaker 1: sons whom they named James Allen, though they did spell 711 00:35:53,680 --> 00:35:55,759 Speaker 1: Alan differently, you know, one with an E, one with 712 00:35:55,800 --> 00:35:58,319 Speaker 1: an A. So that's something that but that's not all. 713 00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:02,520 Speaker 1: They also were both sheriff's deputies. They drove the same Chevy, 714 00:36:02,640 --> 00:36:06,080 Speaker 1: drink the same beer. It's so strange. So these guys 715 00:36:06,320 --> 00:36:09,240 Speaker 1: did not see each other until they were right around 716 00:36:09,320 --> 00:36:11,520 Speaker 1: forty years old, and yet had all of these things 717 00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:15,560 Speaker 1: in common exactly. It's like the Wilcox brothers, except you know, 718 00:36:15,600 --> 00:36:19,120 Speaker 1: they didn't coordinate. It weird. That is unbelievable. All right, Well, 719 00:36:19,120 --> 00:36:21,040 Speaker 1: I think we should put one myth to rest, and 720 00:36:21,080 --> 00:36:24,240 Speaker 1: that's about twins and their fingerprints. While they may share 721 00:36:24,320 --> 00:36:27,520 Speaker 1: nearly all of their DNA, their fingerprints are not identical. 722 00:36:27,560 --> 00:36:29,960 Speaker 1: And that's because it actually turns out that the ridges 723 00:36:30,000 --> 00:36:33,440 Speaker 1: and ripples on your fingers are often changed by experiences 724 00:36:33,480 --> 00:36:36,400 Speaker 1: in the womb. So even very small differences like a 725 00:36:36,440 --> 00:36:39,120 Speaker 1: slightly long umbilical cord and some other things like that, 726 00:36:39,160 --> 00:36:43,319 Speaker 1: they can actually change your print. That's pretty wild. Well, 727 00:36:43,360 --> 00:36:45,719 Speaker 1: all right, I have another restaurant one. So have you 728 00:36:45,760 --> 00:36:48,080 Speaker 1: ever been a regular at a restaurant and you kind 729 00:36:48,080 --> 00:36:50,960 Speaker 1: of felt like the owner the manager just lived there 730 00:36:51,000 --> 00:36:53,960 Speaker 1: because they were, you know, always there working. Oh definitely. 731 00:36:54,000 --> 00:36:56,320 Speaker 1: I mean, I know, the restaurant business is a really 732 00:36:56,360 --> 00:36:58,680 Speaker 1: tough business. So I feel like when I'm at most 733 00:36:58,760 --> 00:37:01,600 Speaker 1: really good local rest runts, it seems like the owner 734 00:37:01,640 --> 00:37:05,839 Speaker 1: of the manager is always there. Yeah, exactly. Well, now 735 00:37:05,960 --> 00:37:08,040 Speaker 1: I'm starting to think that some of those people may 736 00:37:08,080 --> 00:37:10,359 Speaker 1: be pulling one over on us. And that's after reading 737 00:37:10,360 --> 00:37:13,560 Speaker 1: about a pair known as the Robot Couple. So this 738 00:37:13,600 --> 00:37:17,280 Speaker 1: is actually what locals called a married couple in you Wu, China, 739 00:37:17,680 --> 00:37:20,360 Speaker 1: and they got the nickname because they kept their restaurant 740 00:37:20,360 --> 00:37:23,359 Speaker 1: open twenty one hours a day and you know, they 741 00:37:23,360 --> 00:37:27,440 Speaker 1: were always there and I mean always there. But what 742 00:37:27,560 --> 00:37:31,160 Speaker 1: their customers didn't know was that both the man and 743 00:37:31,239 --> 00:37:34,839 Speaker 1: the woman were identical twins, and all four of them 744 00:37:34,840 --> 00:37:37,320 Speaker 1: worked at the restaurant. They you know, they take different 745 00:37:37,320 --> 00:37:39,799 Speaker 1: shifts just in order to keep the restaurant open, you know, 746 00:37:39,800 --> 00:37:42,680 Speaker 1: pretty much all the time. And so most locals just 747 00:37:42,719 --> 00:37:46,120 Speaker 1: thought it was one you know, endlessly energetic couple that 748 00:37:46,239 --> 00:37:48,840 Speaker 1: didn't need to sleep, you know, like robots. And it 749 00:37:48,880 --> 00:37:51,960 Speaker 1: actually wasn't until a few years after the restaurant opened 750 00:37:51,960 --> 00:37:54,680 Speaker 1: that one of the twins finally did an interview and 751 00:37:54,719 --> 00:37:57,239 Speaker 1: revealed the truth. Wow, that's wild. It kind of makes 752 00:37:57,280 --> 00:37:59,600 Speaker 1: me wish though, that they had never revealed the truth 753 00:37:59,640 --> 00:38:02,640 Speaker 1: and just kept this going for because twenty one hours 754 00:38:02,640 --> 00:38:05,200 Speaker 1: a day, I mean honestly though, twenty one hours a 755 00:38:05,280 --> 00:38:08,960 Speaker 1: day with two shifts, just keeping that going. That's impressive, 756 00:38:09,040 --> 00:38:11,520 Speaker 1: even when it's for people. So I can't imagine seeing 757 00:38:11,520 --> 00:38:14,040 Speaker 1: what you thought were just two people running this all 758 00:38:14,040 --> 00:38:17,080 Speaker 1: the time. All right, Well, we need to decide on 759 00:38:17,120 --> 00:38:19,440 Speaker 1: a winner today. And you know, I feel like, in 760 00:38:19,600 --> 00:38:22,719 Speaker 1: honor of this whole evil twin thing, I wish you 761 00:38:22,760 --> 00:38:25,120 Speaker 1: could see this game because it is really impressive. So 762 00:38:25,560 --> 00:38:27,440 Speaker 1: I know that was a great last fact from you, 763 00:38:27,480 --> 00:38:29,759 Speaker 1: but I think I want to give today's fact Off 764 00:38:29,800 --> 00:38:33,640 Speaker 1: trophy to Tristan's evil Twins goatee. What what do you 765 00:38:33,640 --> 00:38:36,360 Speaker 1: think about that? Yeah, that sounds very you need to 766 00:38:36,360 --> 00:38:38,279 Speaker 1: stay on his good side. I guess that's right. Well, 767 00:38:38,280 --> 00:38:41,000 Speaker 1: thanks again for joining us today. Gabe Mango would be 768 00:38:41,040 --> 00:38:44,120 Speaker 1: back for tomorrow's episode. Now if we forgot any good 769 00:38:44,160 --> 00:38:46,560 Speaker 1: facts about twins, I'm sure we did. We always love 770 00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:49,000 Speaker 1: hearing those facts from. You can email us part Time 771 00:38:49,040 --> 00:38:51,680 Speaker 1: Genius at how stuff Works dot com or hit us 772 00:38:51,760 --> 00:39:00,239 Speaker 1: up on Facebook or Twitter. But thanks so much for listening, Yea, 773 00:39:08,640 --> 00:39:11,120 Speaker 1: thanks again for listening. Part Time Genius is a production 774 00:39:11,160 --> 00:39:13,600 Speaker 1: of How Stuff Works and wouldn't be possible without several 775 00:39:13,640 --> 00:39:16,160 Speaker 1: brilliant people who do the important things we couldn't even 776 00:39:16,160 --> 00:39:19,480 Speaker 1: begin to understand. Christa McNeil does the editing thing. Noel 777 00:39:19,520 --> 00:39:21,560 Speaker 1: Brown made the theme song and does the MIXI mixy 778 00:39:21,640 --> 00:39:25,120 Speaker 1: sound thing. Jerry Rowland does the exact producer thing. Gay 779 00:39:25,160 --> 00:39:27,360 Speaker 1: blues Yar is our lead researcher, with support from the 780 00:39:27,360 --> 00:39:30,800 Speaker 1: Research Army including Austin Thompson, Nolan Brown and Lucas Adams 781 00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:32,680 Speaker 1: and Eves. Jeff Cook gets the show to your ears. 782 00:39:32,760 --> 00:39:34,719 Speaker 1: Good job, Eves. If you like what you heard. We 783 00:39:34,760 --> 00:39:36,880 Speaker 1: hope you'll subscribe, and if you really really like what 784 00:39:36,960 --> 00:39:39,000 Speaker 1: you've heard, maybe you could leave a good review for us. 785 00:39:39,200 --> 00:39:41,360 Speaker 1: Do we do we forget Jason? Jason who