WEBVTT - What’s so special about Twins? 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:02.519 Guess what, Gabe's that will So I've got a word 0:00:02.600 --> 0:00:06.560 for you. Are you familiar with the term cryptophasia? Not. 0:00:07.000 --> 0:00:09.520 I don't think I've heard the word before, But if 0:00:09.560 --> 0:00:11.200 you give me a second, I'm going to lean on 0:00:11.240 --> 0:00:13.360 all those S A T. Prep books from years ago 0:00:13.520 --> 0:00:17.560 and through my roots. So, uh, crypto, I know that 0:00:17.600 --> 0:00:22.000 means secret and uh pasia, I don't know what is 0:00:22.040 --> 0:00:26.280 that like? Speech? Nicely done, Gabe, Yeah, secret language. And actually, 0:00:26.320 --> 0:00:29.720 in today's case, I'm referring to twin languages or you know, 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:33.159 the secret languages that twins developed that nobody else knows. 0:00:33.600 --> 0:00:35.960 And of course, almost every little kid makes up at 0:00:36.040 --> 0:00:39.479 least a few words, but cryptophacia supposedly occurs in about 0:00:39.520 --> 0:00:42.600 half of all twins, and researchers think much of the 0:00:42.640 --> 0:00:45.040 reason it develops is because, you know, like most kids, 0:00:45.159 --> 0:00:48.800 twins will mispronounce certain words, but then because they understand 0:00:48.880 --> 0:00:52.040 each other so well, they just reinforce those words and 0:00:52.080 --> 0:00:54.720 develop a new language out of them. Okay, sure, yeah, 0:00:54.760 --> 0:00:56.960 that makes sense, But it was actually a lot of 0:00:57.000 --> 0:00:59.840 fun to read about. Matthew and Michael Jolden. These are 0:00:59.840 --> 0:01:02.920 the twins, they're now adults, and they took this idea 0:01:02.960 --> 0:01:05.959 to another level, and instead of leaving behind that secret 0:01:06.040 --> 0:01:09.160 language early in life, they just decided to really develop 0:01:09.240 --> 0:01:12.759 it and fully flesh out this language, complete with an alphabet, 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:17.080 grammatical rules, everything. Now the language is called Mary, and 0:01:17.120 --> 0:01:19.680 over the years they've continued to develop it. Now we're 0:01:19.680 --> 0:01:23.360 talking thousands of words, and today the brothers have a 0:01:23.400 --> 0:01:26.440 decent online following where they share their learnings from something 0:01:26.520 --> 0:01:30.400 like twenty other languages they've learned over the years. Oh wow, 0:01:30.400 --> 0:01:32.400 that's pretty awesome. And I mean, I know it's a 0:01:32.400 --> 0:01:35.320 little weird to say, but I gotta admit I'm pretty jealous. 0:01:35.360 --> 0:01:37.240 I get a game. But it makes a lot of sense. 0:01:37.280 --> 0:01:39.600 And you know, of course, cryptophasia isn't the only thing 0:01:39.680 --> 0:01:42.760 people find fascinating about twins. I think most of us 0:01:42.800 --> 0:01:45.160 have probably thought about what it would be like to 0:01:45.240 --> 0:01:47.320 be a twin. That is, of course, those of us 0:01:47.319 --> 0:01:50.000 who aren't already twins. So you know, today we're gonna 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:52.520 take a look into the history of twins, what different 0:01:52.560 --> 0:01:55.720 civilizations have thought about them, some of the surprising facts 0:01:55.800 --> 0:01:58.760 around the science of twins, how the idea of evil 0:01:58.840 --> 0:02:01.520 twins emerged, And of course we couldn't resist doing some 0:02:01.640 --> 0:02:17.000 digging into non human twins, so let's dive in. Y 0:02:26.320 --> 0:02:28.760 Hey there, podcast listeners, Welcome to Part Time Genius. I'm 0:02:28.800 --> 0:02:30.800 Will Pearson and today I'm joined by our friend and 0:02:30.840 --> 0:02:34.760 researcher Gabe Lousier. Mangesh is still on vacation. I am 0:02:34.800 --> 0:02:38.200 happy to report my voice is back from its vacation. 0:02:38.280 --> 0:02:40.760 It feels good to be speaking normally again. But Gabe, 0:02:40.800 --> 0:02:43.799 how's it going. Hey, it's going well. Thanks for having 0:02:43.800 --> 0:02:45.880 me on, of course, and on the other side of 0:02:45.919 --> 0:02:48.640 the soundproof glass boarding a fetching new goatee. I wish 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:50.360 you could see this thing, Gabe. That's our friend and 0:02:50.400 --> 0:02:54.480 producer Tristan McNeil. Oh, well, I'm not so sure about that. 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:57.640 If if Star Treks taught me anything, it's to beware 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:01.320 the sudden appearance of well sculpted facial there. So it's 0:03:01.400 --> 0:03:03.560 usually a sure sign you're dealing with an evil twins 0:03:03.560 --> 0:03:06.480 to watch yourself well. Honestly, though, unless you know how 0:03:06.480 --> 0:03:08.680 to work the sound equipment, I think we're just gonna 0:03:08.720 --> 0:03:11.160 have to take our chances here. And besides, if that 0:03:11.440 --> 0:03:13.839 is Tristan's evil twin, then I have to at least 0:03:13.880 --> 0:03:17.200 given props for staying on theme here. It feels appropriate 0:03:17.240 --> 0:03:22.000 because today's show is all about twins, duos, doubles, and 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:24.000 because this is a bit of a grab bag episode, 0:03:24.040 --> 0:03:26.720 we can start pretty much anywhere we want. So, so, Gabe, 0:03:26.760 --> 0:03:28.600 you're joining us today. What what sounds good to you? 0:03:28.600 --> 0:03:31.720 Where do you want to start? Um? Well, I don't 0:03:31.760 --> 0:03:33.880 want to go too dark too quickly, but I'd like 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:36.040 to stick with the whole evil twin thing for a minute, 0:03:36.080 --> 0:03:38.480 if you don't mind, because on one hand, you know, 0:03:38.720 --> 0:03:41.680 it's just such a weird leap to make right, like 0:03:42.000 --> 0:03:44.400 just because two people look the same, they must be 0:03:44.440 --> 0:03:48.080 polar opposites in terms of morality. But I mean, on 0:03:48.160 --> 0:03:50.720 some level, the ideas really struck a chord with us, 0:03:50.800 --> 0:03:53.520 because it's not like Evil Spock was the first of 0:03:53.560 --> 0:03:56.080 his kind or anything. And in fact, humans have a 0:03:56.160 --> 0:03:59.880 long track record of being distrustful of doubles, like the 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.200 birth of twins was long thought to be a bad 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:05.680 omen in many cultures, and there's all kinds of folklore 0:04:05.840 --> 0:04:08.880 from throughout Europe and Africa that tells about these so 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:12.360 called changelings, and these were said to be like a 0:04:12.560 --> 0:04:17.200 supernatural children, the offspring of fairies or demons, and they 0:04:17.200 --> 0:04:21.080 were supposedly left in place of stolen human children, so 0:04:21.440 --> 0:04:24.719 they would look identical, but they secretly harbored all these 0:04:24.839 --> 0:04:28.560 sinister intentions. Well, you know, the example I always think 0:04:28.560 --> 0:04:31.200 back to for evil twins is that German idea that 0:04:31.279 --> 0:04:35.159 everyone has their own doppelganger or double goer, and this is, 0:04:35.480 --> 0:04:37.880 you know, supposedly a kind of specter that each of 0:04:37.960 --> 0:04:40.920 us has that looks exactly like us. And the myth 0:04:41.040 --> 0:04:43.560 was that seeing your double three times would cause you 0:04:43.640 --> 0:04:46.880 to die shortly thereafter. And the term itself was coined 0:04:46.880 --> 0:04:49.080 by a German author named Jean Paul. This was back 0:04:49.120 --> 0:04:52.080 in seventeen nine six, but you know, you have similar 0:04:52.080 --> 0:04:54.960 ideas popping up around the same time in both English 0:04:55.040 --> 0:04:58.200 and Irish literature as well. And in these cases, the 0:04:58.240 --> 0:05:01.800 spiritual double was called effect because the concept was pretty 0:05:01.880 --> 0:05:04.120 much the same. You know, if you catch a glimpse 0:05:04.160 --> 0:05:07.480 of yours and you're unfortunately a goner. You know, Also, 0:05:07.520 --> 0:05:09.280 this is kind of random, but that John Paul guy 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:13.640 mentioned he actually came up with two words to describe doubles. Well, 0:05:13.680 --> 0:05:16.400 I mean that's appropriate, right, yeah, But sadly the second 0:05:16.520 --> 0:05:19.080 term hasn't endured quite so well. It was actually just 0:05:19.120 --> 0:05:21.799 the same word, but with a T dropped in the middle, 0:05:21.839 --> 0:05:24.680 So I guess it's doppeled ganger. I'm not sure exactly 0:05:24.920 --> 0:05:26.480 how to say it, but it was used to describe 0:05:26.480 --> 0:05:29.520 a meal where two courses were served at the same time. 0:05:31.279 --> 0:05:33.480 I love how the more practical term is the one 0:05:33.520 --> 0:05:35.760 that fell out of use. Like, you know, somebody had 0:05:35.800 --> 0:05:37.880 to ask, should we keep the word for eating soup 0:05:37.920 --> 0:05:40.680 and salad at the same time or the one that 0:05:40.720 --> 0:05:43.599 refers to sinister look alikes to predict our own deaths? 0:05:43.680 --> 0:05:45.560 Let's keep that one. Well, you never know. I mean, 0:05:45.560 --> 0:05:48.040 this could be the first step to bringing back the other, 0:05:48.080 --> 0:05:49.919 meaning we'll see what we can do. But I do 0:05:50.000 --> 0:05:53.240 have to admit that the concept of doppelganger lends itself 0:05:53.279 --> 0:05:55.760 pretty well to literature. I mean, it's a clever way 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:58.560 to dig into that duality of humans that a lot 0:05:58.600 --> 0:06:01.160 of literature refers to, and that kind of that light 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:04.080 and that dark side that we have. And that's probably 0:06:04.120 --> 0:06:06.320 what's at the root of the whole evil twin trope 0:06:06.320 --> 0:06:08.600 thing in the first place. Don't you think, Oh yeah, 0:06:08.640 --> 0:06:10.599 that makes a lot of sense. And I mean, to 0:06:10.640 --> 0:06:14.560 be fair, though, doppelgangers aren't exclusive to folklore and novels, 0:06:14.880 --> 0:06:17.479 there are some real world cases where people claim to 0:06:17.560 --> 0:06:20.440 have seen their doubles, and true to all those myths, 0:06:20.800 --> 0:06:25.320 those people, you know, they died prematurely. For example, Abraham Lincoln, 0:06:25.320 --> 0:06:28.080 he actually claimed to see a double reflection of himself 0:06:28.120 --> 0:06:31.240 in the mirror just after he was elected, and one 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:34.040 face looked normal, but the other was said to look 0:06:34.080 --> 0:06:37.800 eerily pale and kind of ghost like. Yeah, Lincoln said 0:06:37.839 --> 0:06:40.320 this happened two more times to him, but no one 0:06:40.360 --> 0:06:42.640 else was ever there to witness it. And I mean, 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.359 he did tell his wife, Mary Todd about these visions, 0:06:45.400 --> 0:06:48.120 and strangely enough, she actually took them as a sign 0:06:48.160 --> 0:06:51.400 that Lincoln would serve two terms as president, one for 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:55.000 each of these faces. But you know, she also interpreted 0:06:55.040 --> 0:06:57.160 the kind of ghost like face to mean that he 0:06:57.200 --> 0:06:59.440 would die before the end of that second term, and 0:06:59.480 --> 0:07:01.920 you know, of as he did. Wow, that's so strange, 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.600 and it's also, of course a little bit unsettling. But 0:07:04.640 --> 0:07:06.760 come on, I mean, there has to be a scientific 0:07:06.800 --> 0:07:09.040 explanation for this kind of stuff. I mean, Lincoln was 0:07:09.120 --> 0:07:11.360 under a ton of pressure, you know, and a lot 0:07:11.400 --> 0:07:14.360 of other doppelganger sightings involved people who are either half 0:07:14.360 --> 0:07:17.440 asleep or seriously ill. So I would think maybe it's 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:19.800 just a trick of the brain, like a hallucination brought 0:07:19.800 --> 0:07:23.320 on that by this fatigue or illness, don't you think. Yeah, 0:07:23.400 --> 0:07:25.160 I mean, as fun as it is to speculate, you're 0:07:25.160 --> 0:07:28.520 probably right. Like I even read about this one neurological 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:31.880 condition called hugo scopy, and it's it's where you basically 0:07:31.920 --> 0:07:35.320 hallucinate your own image at a distance. And you know, 0:07:35.400 --> 0:07:37.800 something like that is probably at play in cases like 0:07:37.880 --> 0:07:41.760 Lincoln's where only one person ever sees the double. But 0:07:42.040 --> 0:07:45.520 still there are cases where multiple witnesses have claimed to 0:07:45.560 --> 0:07:48.720 see somebody else's double, and those are a little harder 0:07:48.760 --> 0:07:51.320 to make sense of. Learned a new word. What you 0:07:51.360 --> 0:07:55.040 said was called hugo scopy, huge scopy. Okay, good one. 0:07:55.240 --> 0:07:57.160 All right, Well, let's leave at least a little bit 0:07:57.160 --> 0:07:59.400 of mystery intact on this one. But I think we 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:02.360 should leave the folklore behind and talk instead about a 0:08:02.360 --> 0:08:05.200 more literal kind of double, which of course is twins. 0:08:05.320 --> 0:08:08.480 And once again, appropriately enough, there are actually two ways 0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:11.360 that a woman can conceive twins. Now. The first is 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:14.240 when two eggs are released during ovulation and both are 0:08:14.280 --> 0:08:17.640 fertilized and both become embryos, and this results in what 0:08:17.680 --> 0:08:21.040 we call fraternal or non identical twins, and they share 0:08:21.040 --> 0:08:23.560 about fifty of their genes with each other, which is 0:08:23.600 --> 0:08:26.920 actually the same as any siblings born at different times. Now, 0:08:26.920 --> 0:08:28.720 the other way to conceive twins is for a single 0:08:28.760 --> 0:08:31.960 fertilized egg to be split into early in its development, 0:08:32.240 --> 0:08:34.520 and in this case you wind up with identical twins. 0:08:34.559 --> 0:08:37.640 And because the two embryos resulted from the same combination 0:08:37.679 --> 0:08:40.880 of a single egg and sperm, they share roughly ninety 0:08:40.960 --> 0:08:44.560 nine point nine percent of the same DNA. And the 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:47.040 weird thing is, we actually aren't really sure why an 0:08:47.040 --> 0:08:50.480 egg splits like this. I mean, technically speaking, it's kind 0:08:50.520 --> 0:08:55.040 of a biological malfunction or you know, a birth anomaly. Well, 0:08:55.040 --> 0:08:59.360 what about like conjoined twins, are they also identical twins? Yeah? 0:08:59.400 --> 0:09:02.360 So conjoined twins are essentially identical twins that have joined 0:09:02.400 --> 0:09:05.480 together in utero. And whether or not this happens really 0:09:05.520 --> 0:09:08.520 comes down to timing. So if the fertilized egg takes 0:09:08.640 --> 0:09:11.760 longer than twelve days to split, then it generally won't 0:09:11.800 --> 0:09:15.160 separate fully and the resulting identical twins will be conjoined 0:09:15.160 --> 0:09:18.319 in some way. Okay, I see. So it's like if 0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:21.800 the egg is fertilized mid split and then never completes 0:09:21.840 --> 0:09:24.959 the process, then the embryo it develops into is kind 0:09:24.960 --> 0:09:27.800 of stuck that way as well. Yeah, exactly. And there's 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:31.120 actually another subset of identical twins based on the crucial 0:09:31.160 --> 0:09:34.160 timing of that egg split. Now they're called mirror twins, 0:09:34.320 --> 0:09:36.600 and scientists think they come about when the fertilized egg 0:09:36.640 --> 0:09:39.840 separates later than usual, but not as late as with 0:09:39.880 --> 0:09:43.240 conjoined twins. So if the split occurs anywhere between seven 0:09:43.280 --> 0:09:46.920 and twelve days after fertilization, then the resulting embryos will 0:09:46.960 --> 0:09:51.840 likely be these mirror twins. Interesting, So what are mirror twins? 0:09:51.880 --> 0:09:54.280 Exactly like? It kind of sounds like the good twin 0:09:54.360 --> 0:09:56.720 bad twin thing all over again. And now it's it's 0:09:56.720 --> 0:09:58.760 not exactly that, or it's not that at all. I mean, 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:01.000 the term means that the twins have the same physical 0:10:01.000 --> 0:10:04.160 features except asymmetrically opposite. And I find this kind of 0:10:04.200 --> 0:10:07.199 stuff so fascinating. So, you know, just take as an example, 0:10:07.240 --> 0:10:09.280 if one twin is right handed, the other one will 0:10:09.320 --> 0:10:11.680 be left handed. If one has a birthmark on his 0:10:11.800 --> 0:10:13.440 right arm, the other one will have a birth mark 0:10:13.520 --> 0:10:15.959 on the left arm. Now there are even some extreme 0:10:16.080 --> 0:10:19.600 cases where twins have mirrored internal organs as well, so 0:10:19.640 --> 0:10:21.680 that one, you know, might have an appendix or even 0:10:21.679 --> 0:10:23.559 a heart on the right side, while the other will 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:26.360 have the organs on the left. And it's pretty wild 0:10:26.440 --> 0:10:28.400 to think about, especially when you consider that this is 0:10:28.440 --> 0:10:31.800 actually the most common type of rare twins. I think 0:10:31.840 --> 0:10:34.439 it's like one in four pairs of identical twins are 0:10:34.480 --> 0:10:38.560 also mirror twins. That seems like a lot. Yeah, although 0:10:38.559 --> 0:10:40.880 I mean, I guess twins in general have become more 0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:43.680 and more common lately. Like I came across this birth 0:10:43.760 --> 0:10:47.080 data report from the CDC and apparently the birth rate 0:10:47.080 --> 0:10:49.360 for twins has nearly doubled in the US and the 0:10:49.440 --> 0:10:53.200 year since. So it used to be that only nineteen 0:10:53.240 --> 0:10:56.400 sets of twins were born per one thousand berths, but 0:10:56.520 --> 0:11:00.280 nowadays it's thirty four sets per one thousand, oh also, 0:11:00.440 --> 0:11:04.000 so nearly doubling. What's going on there, Well, it's really 0:11:04.080 --> 0:11:06.240 a couple of things. Like one is just that women 0:11:06.240 --> 0:11:08.480 are choosing to have kids later in life than they 0:11:08.600 --> 0:11:11.240 used to, so instead of getting pregnant in their twenties. 0:11:11.280 --> 0:11:13.480 You know, a growing number of ladies are waiting until 0:11:13.480 --> 0:11:16.720 their thirties, and and so how does that actually lead 0:11:16.760 --> 0:11:19.959 to more twins? Well, so this is something I didn't 0:11:19.960 --> 0:11:23.400 know until doing the research this week, but apparently hormonal 0:11:23.480 --> 0:11:26.320 changes tend to make older women release more than one 0:11:26.360 --> 0:11:29.800 egg at a time during opulation, which of course increases 0:11:29.840 --> 0:11:33.560 the likelihood of fraternal twins. And actually the peak age 0:11:33.600 --> 0:11:35.959 for this is thought to be about thirty five years old, 0:11:36.400 --> 0:11:39.160 and the chances of conception in general tend to decrease 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:42.200 from there, but thirty five is kind of the sweet 0:11:42.240 --> 0:11:44.760 spot if you want the best odds of twinning. Okay, 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.160 so think about the timeline you gave with the increase 0:11:47.200 --> 0:11:50.200 of twins spiking after the eighties. I'm guessing the other 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:53.840 factor would have to be like the assist of reproductive methods. 0:11:53.920 --> 0:11:57.120 You know, I've definitely read about in vitro fertilization and 0:11:57.120 --> 0:11:59.000 and the fact that that I think can up the 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.560 chances of multip births. Right, Yeah, that is right. And 0:12:02.760 --> 0:12:05.640 I mean, now we have stuff like artificial insemination and 0:12:05.679 --> 0:12:09.000 fertility boosting meds, but in vitro is definitely the most 0:12:09.040 --> 0:12:12.520 popular method for people struggling to conceive, so it probably 0:12:12.559 --> 0:12:15.160 plays the biggest role in the twin boom that we're seeing. 0:12:15.240 --> 0:12:18.160 And in fact, according to the Washington Post, thirties six 0:12:18.240 --> 0:12:21.640 percent of all the twins born in the US were 0:12:21.640 --> 0:12:24.360 the results of fertility treatments, with in vitro being the 0:12:24.400 --> 0:12:27.160 most common. Oh wow, I didn't realize it was that high. 0:12:27.160 --> 0:12:28.760 And so did you get a sense of why I 0:12:28.880 --> 0:12:32.920 v F in particular results in so many twins? Yeah. 0:12:33.000 --> 0:12:37.240 So the treatment usually involves multiple rounds or cycles, and 0:12:37.320 --> 0:12:41.000 during each one, doctors typically implant multiple embryos at the 0:12:41.040 --> 0:12:43.640 same time. And the thinking is that, you know, hey, 0:12:43.679 --> 0:12:46.719 this procedure is in cheap, and there's no guarantee it 0:12:46.720 --> 0:12:48.840 will work the first or even a second time around, 0:12:48.880 --> 0:12:52.400 so let's maximize our chances and hope that at least 0:12:52.400 --> 0:12:56.360 one of these will, you know, be viable. But the catch, 0:12:56.600 --> 0:12:59.160 and this is something we didn't know until more recently, 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:02.880 is that the odds of conception actually increase with each 0:13:03.000 --> 0:13:06.920 round of IVF, and that's up until the ninth round. Okay, 0:13:07.160 --> 0:13:09.079 I see that makes sense. So if a doctor implants 0:13:09.160 --> 0:13:11.680 multiple embryos in like the fifth or sixth round or 0:13:11.720 --> 0:13:14.320 something like that, then I guess there's a fair chance 0:13:14.360 --> 0:13:16.559 the parent might wind up with two or three, or 0:13:17.120 --> 0:13:18.960 I don't know, heck even eight kids in the case 0:13:19.000 --> 0:13:22.400 of the notorious Optimom Right, Yeah, I know exactly, And 0:13:22.840 --> 0:13:25.080 I mean doctors have caught onto this by now, so 0:13:25.160 --> 0:13:27.440 most of them, you know, won't implant more than two 0:13:27.480 --> 0:13:30.640 embryos at a time anymore. And that's actually a big 0:13:30.679 --> 0:13:33.520 reason why the birth rates for twins remains so high, 0:13:33.559 --> 0:13:38.160 while that of like triplets or higher has dropped significantly. Okay, well, 0:13:38.160 --> 0:13:40.280 there's definitely more twin science that I want to talk 0:13:40.280 --> 0:13:42.040 about before we get back into some of the more 0:13:42.080 --> 0:13:44.240 offbeat stuff. But before we get to that, let's take 0:13:44.280 --> 0:14:01.760 a quick break. You're listening to Part Time Genius and 0:14:01.760 --> 0:14:04.400 we're talking about the double lives of twins. So gave. 0:14:04.679 --> 0:14:06.800 I think most of us have wondered, at one time 0:14:06.920 --> 0:14:08.880 or another what it would be like to have a twin, 0:14:09.040 --> 0:14:12.960 especially an identical one. Now, there's just something strangely appealing 0:14:12.960 --> 0:14:15.280 about sharing, you know, not only the same family and 0:14:15.360 --> 0:14:19.080 childhood experiences, but the same face, the same d n 0:14:19.120 --> 0:14:22.080 A as another person. That must be so interesting. I mean, 0:14:22.080 --> 0:14:24.640 of course they've always had that, but it's it's interesting 0:14:24.680 --> 0:14:26.520 to imagine what it might be like for those of 0:14:26.600 --> 0:14:29.040 us who aren't. Of course, some of that comes down 0:14:29.080 --> 0:14:31.080 to all the fun perks that go with it. You know, 0:14:31.120 --> 0:14:34.160 think about confusing your friends or I don't know, sometimes 0:14:34.160 --> 0:14:36.800 you just want to tag out of those boring social functions, 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:40.080 not to mention always having the perfect scapegoat for whatever 0:14:40.200 --> 0:14:43.360 crimes you might commit. So, did anything like this ever 0:14:43.480 --> 0:14:46.560 make you wish you had a twin? Yeah? I mean, well, 0:14:46.600 --> 0:14:50.640 maybe not the whole frame your twin angle. I mean 0:14:50.680 --> 0:14:53.280 I definitely daydreamed about it once or twice as a kid, sure, 0:14:53.320 --> 0:14:55.280 And I mean I grew up in the nineties, so 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:57.680 it was kind of hard not to. Like, twins were 0:14:57.760 --> 0:15:00.680 all over pop culture like the old and twins were 0:15:00.680 --> 0:15:03.680 still in the limelight. Plus there were shows like Sister Sister, 0:15:04.000 --> 0:15:07.120 that remake of The Parent Trap with Lindsay Lohan had 0:15:07.120 --> 0:15:09.760 the Weasley twins, and Harry Potter, like the list just 0:15:09.800 --> 0:15:11.800 goes on. Yeah, and I kind of wonder if that 0:15:11.880 --> 0:15:14.400 visibility had anything to do with the twin baby boom 0:15:14.440 --> 0:15:16.680 that we were talking about, because you know, there were 0:15:16.720 --> 0:15:18.640 suddenly more twins in the world and it felt like 0:15:18.760 --> 0:15:21.040 time to give them their due in the media and now. 0:15:21.080 --> 0:15:23.320 Of course, many folks who weren't bombarded with twins growing 0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.280 up still find themselves fascinated by the idea of them, 0:15:26.600 --> 0:15:28.680 and some people even feel like they should have been 0:15:28.720 --> 0:15:31.640 born a twin, like something is missing from their lives 0:15:31.720 --> 0:15:34.480 without one, and as it turns out, they just might 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:37.720 be onto something. So what do you mean by that, Well, 0:15:37.760 --> 0:15:40.720 it's actually said that one in ninety live births resulted 0:15:40.760 --> 0:15:44.240 either fraternal or identical twins, but one in eight of 0:15:44.240 --> 0:15:46.920 those live births actually began as twins, and this is 0:15:46.960 --> 0:15:50.440 something called the vanishing twin phenomenon. And the current thinking 0:15:50.520 --> 0:15:52.720 is that this is either the result of one of 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:55.280 the twin fetuses being absorbed into either the body of 0:15:55.280 --> 0:15:57.840 the mother or the body of their surviving twin, And 0:15:58.280 --> 0:16:00.440 this is something we've known about for a file now, 0:16:00.440 --> 0:16:03.840 but we still aren't quite sure why it happens. Yeah, 0:16:03.880 --> 0:16:06.000 that's actually pretty creepy, I mean, because it would mean 0:16:06.040 --> 0:16:08.400 a good percentage of us Singleton's had a twin who 0:16:08.480 --> 0:16:12.400 actually vanished sometime during pregnancy, right, is that what you're saying? Yeah, 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:15.800 I mean somewhere around fIF or more by most counts, 0:16:15.800 --> 0:16:18.160 And this can lead to all kinds of weird effects 0:16:18.160 --> 0:16:21.800 for their surviving twin. Like sometimes when fraternal embryos merge 0:16:21.800 --> 0:16:24.440 into a single body, that person will actually have two 0:16:24.480 --> 0:16:27.360 sets of DNA and different parts of their body. So 0:16:27.400 --> 0:16:28.880 if you were to take a swab of the cheek 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:30.920 of one of these people, you would get one read out, 0:16:30.960 --> 0:16:33.200 but if you draw their blood you could actually get 0:16:33.200 --> 0:16:37.640 a completely different one. So weird. It's like some kind 0:16:37.680 --> 0:16:42.200 of highly specific, not all that useful superpower, right, But 0:16:42.400 --> 0:16:44.880 you know, there's actually a ton of useful research that's 0:16:44.920 --> 0:16:47.720 come from twins studies. In fact, studying identical twins has 0:16:47.720 --> 0:16:50.800 proven so useful that many researchers now make an annual 0:16:50.880 --> 0:16:54.840 pilgrimage to the appropriately named Twinsburg, Ohio, just for the 0:16:54.920 --> 0:16:58.360 chance to study them in mass alright, so wait, back 0:16:58.400 --> 0:17:02.160 up a second. Is Twinsburg like a town entirely populated 0:17:02.160 --> 0:17:05.119 by twins? I mean not exactly, but it was found that, 0:17:05.440 --> 0:17:08.040 or more like refounded by a set of identical twins 0:17:08.080 --> 0:17:10.639 named Moses and Aaron Wilcox. Now this was back in 0:17:10.760 --> 0:17:14.560 eighteen nineteen. The tiny town was still called Millsville, but 0:17:14.600 --> 0:17:17.040 once the Wilcox twins arrived, they made the town an 0:17:17.080 --> 0:17:20.679 offer that it couldn't refuse, so in exchange for renaming 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:23.879 the town in their honor, the twins donated six acres 0:17:23.880 --> 0:17:26.440 of land to be used as public space. And if 0:17:26.480 --> 0:17:30.000 that wasn't enough, they even threw in twenty bucks twenty 0:17:30.040 --> 0:17:33.200 whole dollars to help build a new school house. Yeah 0:17:33.280 --> 0:17:36.280 big spenders, huh. But I mean, obviously these guys must 0:17:36.280 --> 0:17:39.040 have taken the twin thing pretty seriously, I guess now. 0:17:39.080 --> 0:17:41.160 I mean, there's no question about that, because not only 0:17:41.160 --> 0:17:43.840 were the Wilcox's business partners for life, they also married 0:17:43.880 --> 0:17:46.840 women who were sisters, had the same number of kids, 0:17:47.160 --> 0:17:49.960 got sick from the same disease, and even died within 0:17:50.080 --> 0:17:53.080 two hours of each other. But they didn't let a 0:17:53.119 --> 0:17:55.760 little thing like death stopped them from twinning it up. 0:17:55.800 --> 0:17:58.679 Because get this, the brothers were actually buried in the 0:17:58.880 --> 0:18:02.600 same grave in Twinsburg, one stacked right on top of 0:18:02.680 --> 0:18:05.800 the other. It's hard to say that, actually, Yeah, alright, 0:18:05.840 --> 0:18:08.679 so clearly they were just you know, nuts. But I mean, 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:10.760 if the town was just named for one set of 0:18:10.800 --> 0:18:13.480 twins that happened to live there like two hundred years ago, 0:18:13.600 --> 0:18:17.560 then why are researchers still flocking to Twinsburg today. Well, 0:18:17.600 --> 0:18:20.840 because Twinsburg is home to the Twins Day Festival, of course. 0:18:20.880 --> 0:18:23.200 I mean, Gab, I know you've heard of twins Days 0:18:23.240 --> 0:18:26.439 and it's actually the largest annual gathering of twins in 0:18:26.480 --> 0:18:29.879 the free world. Okay, yeah, I actually do remember you guys. 0:18:29.880 --> 0:18:32.040 I think you briefly mentioned this on an episode like 0:18:32.119 --> 0:18:35.040 sometime last year. That's right. This is actually the twenty 0:18:35.119 --> 0:18:37.160 second year of the festival, which by the way, pulls 0:18:37.200 --> 0:18:41.359 in between two to three thousand sets of multiples each year. 0:18:41.760 --> 0:18:44.600 So the weekend typically features you know, themed events for 0:18:44.640 --> 0:18:47.720 twins and they get to compete in these different contests, 0:18:47.760 --> 0:18:51.240 live performances, cook offs, like you name it. In fact, 0:18:51.280 --> 0:18:53.480 I was poking around on the event's website and apparently 0:18:53.560 --> 0:18:56.600 the theme this year is two player mode, so attendees 0:18:56.600 --> 0:18:59.080 are encouraged to dress up like their favorite video game 0:18:59.240 --> 0:19:02.440 or board game characters. Oh wow, that actually sounds pretty 0:19:02.440 --> 0:19:04.879 fun to me. But there's gonna be so many Mario's 0:19:04.960 --> 0:19:08.480 and Luigi's running around that weekend, can even imagine. But 0:19:08.560 --> 0:19:10.680 you know, aside from all the fun and games, there's 0:19:10.720 --> 0:19:13.359 also the research Plaza, and this is where hundreds of 0:19:13.359 --> 0:19:16.040 researchers set up shop, and then they're looking to get 0:19:16.040 --> 0:19:18.480 help with their projects from the many identical twins that 0:19:18.520 --> 0:19:20.760 are there in attendance. So what kind of stuff are 0:19:20.800 --> 0:19:23.199 they working on? All kinds of stuff. I mean, one 0:19:23.240 --> 0:19:25.400 of the hottest fields right now is, of course, facial 0:19:25.440 --> 0:19:28.119 recognition technology. We've talked about this in a couple of 0:19:28.119 --> 0:19:31.680 recent episodes, and it's obviously of interest to anyone from 0:19:31.720 --> 0:19:34.199 Apple to the FBI. And you know, one of the 0:19:34.200 --> 0:19:37.040 best ways to test accuracy of this kind of software 0:19:37.359 --> 0:19:39.600 is actually to see if the program can spot these 0:19:39.640 --> 0:19:44.159 often minute differences between identical twins. But more broadly, twins 0:19:44.200 --> 0:19:46.879 are a great way to tackle the old nature versus 0:19:46.960 --> 0:19:50.119 nurture problem because you know, by observing and testing the 0:19:50.119 --> 0:19:53.320 development and even the decay of these identical twins, you 0:19:53.359 --> 0:19:56.040 wind up with a pretty effective and natural way to 0:19:56.080 --> 0:20:00.199 help distinguish between these environmental factors and the genetic ones. So, 0:20:00.240 --> 0:20:02.920 for example, imagine a pair of identical twins. You know, 0:20:02.960 --> 0:20:05.680 they exhibit a trait of shyness or something like that, 0:20:05.720 --> 0:20:08.800 for example, maybe more so than a pair of fraternal twins. 0:20:09.240 --> 0:20:11.320 And if you see this, maybe that suggests that that 0:20:11.520 --> 0:20:14.600 similarity and shyness is due to these genes, which would 0:20:14.640 --> 0:20:17.120