Of course the girls look alike. But one is taller and weighs more. They have different running gaits. They have different VOICES. They definitely have different personalities.
I know that some of these things are the result of each girl's experience in utero, and their hospital stay after their birth, etc. But STILL. Isn't it COOL? A few weeks ago, Tosc and I watched this documentary on PBS on epigenetics. I was completely riveted. For those of you too LAZY slash IMPORTANT to watch an entire PBS documentary online (aka all of you), epigenetics is basically the study not of genes themselves, but how identical sets of genes turn themselves on or off in different ways.
One of the coolest visuals in the documentary showed the overlapping epigenomes of two sets of identical twins: one set was 5ish years old, the other set was 60ish. Of course, both sets of twins had identical GENES. And the 5-year-old twins had mostly identical epigenomes too (i.e. their genes were being expressed in mostly the same way). But the 60-year-old twins had WILDLY different epigenomes. I guess it's a total no-shitter that 5-year-old twins have had basically the SAME environmental experiences, whereas 60-year-old twins: not so much. By that point, it almost didn't MATTER that they had identical genes, they were being expressed so differently.
Still, Tosc and I were like, WHOA. I mean, obviously nature vs. nurture blah de blah, but his kids do EVERYTHING together, eat the same food, sleep in the same bed, attend the same class at school, and still they are so different. Even PHYSICALLY. I'd be willing to bet their epigenomes are ALREADY pretty divergent (based on my extensive scientific background, aka watching Bill Nye the Science Guy).
ANYWAY. Where in the sam hell am I going with this? I'm no scientist, OBVIOUSLY HOLY SHIT, but this is fucking cool and it blows my tiny mind. THE END.
Um. Pretty sure Tosc would NOT endorse the ass shot. Ah well. He best get used to my inadvisable internet presence and its resultant horrors.
31 comments:
It blows my tiny mind that identical twins can be different heights. I mean, it makes sense since I understand why and how they can be different weights, but it never occurred to me before that they don't have to be the same height.
I have never heard of epigenetics before. That documentary sounds really cool. I will actually watch the whole thing, but I guess I should probably wait until I get home.
Like I said, I don't pretend to know everything about this, but they think it is related to the nutrients she got in the womb (OMG I HATE THAT WORD). Also, the smaller twin had more health problems after she was born. Her voice is deeper and scratchier also, and they think that's related to the breathing tube she had in the NICU.
SO COOL. I mean, not the health problems. But the nutrition stuff.
I'm an only child so all sibling stuff interests me. What is it LIKE to have someone from the same gene pool? Who is like you but not like you? Multiples make it that much more fascinating. I can't imagine talking to someone who looks exactly like me. Is that cool or freaky or what? And what about TWIN LANGUAGE? OMG, so cool.
i find twins almost DISTURBINGLY fascinating. all this stuff is so cool.
even my sister and i: we're 4.5 years apart, and haven't spent any significant time together since i went to (boarding) highschool and she was only 9. then i left the state to go to college, and then she moved to texas then CA, so we literally have only seen each other for holidays since i was 17 & she was 13. AND YET, we talk so identically that our parents can't tell which one of us is calling, and we freak out our friends if we go visit one another because they're so weirded out to hear the same voice / same inflection / same hand gestures coming out of a different person. and neither of us talk exactly like one of our parents. HOW DOES THAT HAPPEN? can you imagine if we were TWINS too?
That is fascinating and it makes perfect sense.
My husband is an identical twin and when I met him (he was 17) I could already see a LOT of differences. However, as the last 12 years have passed - he and his twin have gotten even more different. I forget they're twins most of the time.
Epigenetics. This is going to rattle around in my brain for weeks! So cool.
My daughters are identical twins as well and so this is a topic that is part of my daily experience.
I think my daughters look SO different that I sometimes wonder if they really ARE identical. One has a narrower face (but only to the trained eye), she has a "swirl" or cowlick on the top of her head, she's always been a bit smaller, and her voice DOES sound different than her sister's.
When they are 11, they will have the opportunity to take part of a study at the U of M, which HELL YES we'll do. How awesome will that be?
And I WILL be one of those people who is not important enough to watch the PBS link, probably with my husband. ;)
I love all things sibling/multiples related. I have cousins who are mirror image identical twins (one's a lefty, the other a righty, hair cowlicks on the opposite side of their heads). As kids they were freakishly similar physically and I remember being so shocked that they had different friends and interests.
My nephews are identical twins and at least once the doctor thought he examined the same twin twice when they were in for their checkups. It is really fascinating. They're almost 30 now (I'm old) and have become slightly more different over the years but lately one twin's dog went in and curled up with the other twin's stuff - I think he thought it was his boy. (how's that for a run-on sentence?)
I really feel like Tosc's girls are more DIFFERENT than they are similar. Which is so crazy, because they have about as similar an environment as is possible. They don't spend ANY time apart. I think they eat about the same things.
So WHAT IS IT that is making them so different, especially physically? Does nutrition during pregnancy matter THAT MUCH, and if so...FUUUUUUUCK!!! That stresses me out!
Ya know?
I think it is incredibly fascinating too! I always wanted to be an identical twin.
My boss IS an identical twin, and she has a very funny story about when her sister visited one time and forgot to bring her pajamas. She borrowed some from my boss, whose husband got confused and there was an ill-advised ass-grabbing/kissing incident. It still makes me laugh, hahahaha.
God I love twins so much. I used to pray that I would have twins all the time. All the twins I know are incredibly different and I get the biggest kick out of watching the few sets of child twins we know.
Also - those two? CUTE cute cute
I'm also an only child so all things sibling tend to interest me as I have no direct experience there. One of my good friends is an identical twin and she can't stand her twin, they have very different personalities. Fascinating.
Does TOSC have multiples in his family or does the ex?
Yes. Totally mind blowing. The whole GENOME is mind blowing. Like, WTF? Seriously. HOW?
The ex. Her father (the girls' grandpa)is actually an identical twin.
Also, I see where you are going with this, and...NO. NOOOOOOOOOOOO.
Hahahahahah!!HEHEHE. You're right.
I ALSO find this SO FASCINATING. I remember one of the Sweet Valley Twins books where one of the twins got her first-ever period, and the other one didn't, but everyone assumed that she did and she allowed them to think so. And I was SO CONFUSED about why everyone would make that assumption. And now that you've written this post I REMAIN confused about that, since this seems to show pretty clearly that identical twins are actually NOT the same person and DON'T have the same body.
My cousin studied twins for some of her graduate work, and I loved reading all of her research, so you know I'll watch that clip.
This is FASCINATING. The differences between two sets of identical genes, that is--and the way genes and genetics in general is just so WAY MORE complicated than it seems it should be. Stuff turns on! Stuff turns off! Stuff gets put someplace else! The more I learn about genes, the less I frigging understand. I spent TWO YEARS working (in a mouth-breathing, plug-and-chug kind of way) on a single 150-base-pair stretch of a sheep gene, and by the end I STILL didn't understand all the wonky things that could go wrong with it. Or right.
Anyhow, tangential but also fascinating: didja ever read the book Identical Strangers? It's a memoir written by a pair of twins in their thirties who had been separately adopted as infants and only recently found out that each other existed. Talk about FASCINATING.
That documentary sounds really cool, I am fascinated by twins (all multiples really) and the whole genetics thing. It is mind boggling.
Nice pic of Tosc ;-)
I love twin talk. LOVE. When I found out I was expecting twins, I bought, like, three books about twins. I NEVER GET ENOUGH of twin anecdotes.
Have they been tested? I havent heard of identicals being different heights. Sometimes they just look SO much alike that people assume they are identical. But I guess the health problems in the NICU would explain it.
I have fraternal boy and girl twin nephew and niece, love twins, they are so fun.
And dont worry, twins run in the MOTHERS side, not the dads. Its all about the egg lol.
I am so so fascinated by twins. I've never been close friends with twins or anyone with twins and that is probably a good thing - I would totally stalk them/ drive them crazy with questions.
TOSC's twins are adorable!
I was going to say, too, that sometimes it can be hard to tell if they are identical. Or it could be they are identical but for some reason (available oxygen during birth?) one is developing slightly more quickly - height, weight, etc. Kids change so fast when they're that young I suppose it could easily exaggerate any slight differences which might level out after awhile. I think the different personalities part is typical - of my nephews, one has always been more of a risk taker, one more cautious, things like that.
I have identical twin cousins, and my grandpa was a twin, too. (That was weird as a kid, but cool!) They blow my mind.
I would be so freakin' absorbed by that PBS show. I have always, always gotten sucked in to shit like that.
Tess, I guess you shouldn't have thrown that What to Eat When You're Expecting book across the room. Ha!
I saw that documentary too and that's pretty much why I freak out about toxins and organic food in a way that I didn't before. I mean, you could see how the genes were different. It was freaky.
And what about those twins who are separated at birth and meet up when they're 50 or whatever and eat the same food and have the same mannerisms and name their dogs the same thing and all that?? Totally freaking weird, man.
Everyone is facinated with twins...what's even more gripping to my pea brained mind is CONJOINED Twinhood.
There, I've said it. Tosc's twins are adorable. What does Ava think about having two playmates? not that I'm a total relationship enthusiast, however, HOW the heck are the Two of You getting along? Seems fine, well adjusted, no more wierd Comic Sans moments?
I missed you.
I adore twins especially identical ones. It's so much fun when you can dress them alike and confuse a lot of people.
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