Political Opinions and Genetics
In response to a journal article published in the New Scientist, writer Joshua Hill wrote his own piece for the Canada Free Press. Here’s the summary:
New Scientist: “These [political] views are deep-seated and built into our brains. Trying to persuade someone not to be liberal is like trying to persuade someone not to have brown eyes. We have to rethink persuasion,” as stated by John Alford, a political scientist at Rice University in Houston, Texas. A questionnaire/study of 30,000 twins (both fraternal and identical) showed that identical twins were more likely to answer political questions the same than fraternal twins. Therefore, there is a genetic link to political views.
Canada Free Press: “There’s no such thing as a gene for disliking hippies,” as stated by Frank Sulloway, a psychologist at the University of California, Berkeley. Other studies reveal that political views are more influenced by personality than genes. However, major personality groups are inherited genetically, and therefore create the appearance of a direct genetic link between genes and political opinions.
2/20/08 Podcast
Download the February 20, 2008 podcast.
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Included in this podcast is how the Spiderwick Chronicles treats twinhood, using each other as a make-over mirror, YouTube videos featuring twins (see previous post), genetic influences in politics (see next post) more discussion about telling fraternal twins apart from identical twins, and we answer listener Lorine’s question about the bossy one.
Crissi’s random distraction recommendation: None. Admit it, you don’t miss it.
Theme music is “These Photographs” by Joshua Radin.
YouTube gives Twins a forum… for good or for bad
We considered doing videos for YouTube, but the fact that we live 639 miles apart and are camera shy stopped us. But nothing could stop these twinsets.
These guys love the Olsen twins’ hit song “Identical Twins”. A classic.
What we find interesting in this video is how you can clearly see that the personalities of these 3 year old twins are already divergent, and one seems to speak for both. This was certainly the case for us growing up – Cassi was mostly the spokesperson.
These twins are still young… they think being an identical twin sucks. They’ll learn. But again, you can see that Lauren mainly speaks for both.
Why do parents always make their twins hug?
Here, the parents give a little timeline on how they discovered if their twin girls were identical or fraternal.
2/12/08 Podcast
Download the February 12, 2008 podcast.
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Included in this podcast is an update on the Utah-based flu epidemic, a Valentine’s Day fondue party to come, a review of Strange Wilderness (hint: it’s not 5 stars), the twin baby boom – especially in Hollywood, and we answer listener Sharon’s question about twins as alter egos.
Crissi’s random distraction recommendation: Shockwave and BigFishGames.
Theme music is “These Photographs” by Joshua Radin.
2/5/08 Podcast
Due to scheduling conflicts and flu-like illnesses, we have cancelled this week’s podcast. Sorry for the sore disappointment! We’ll be back next week, though, for sure.
Identical Twins and Leukemia
We aren’t clear on the details of this study (some of it’s over our heads), but the situation of a pair of English identical twins is advancing the scientific knowledge of the development of leukemia.
Olivia Murphy was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 2 years old, and yet her genetic duplicate, Isabella, has been healthy since birth. After chemotherapy and remission, the parents of these identical twins agreed to allow regular blood tests for both girls as part of a research study to determine how the cancer cells developed. Because of this research, scientists have been able to prove the existence of leukemia stem cells.
From the article: “All cancers are caused by genetic mutations which cause cells to divide and multiply uncontrollably. Leukaemia is caused by two different mutations – one which occurs in the womb, the other after birth… both girls had the first mutation, but only Olivia had the second.”
Read more to see if you can get the study more than we do. However, we do know that twin studies such as this have aided in advancing many types of scientific understanding – physical and psychological.
1/29/08 Podcast
Download the January 29, 2008 podcast.
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Included in this podcast is a discussion of recent twin “news”, a tangent about twin studies, Academy Award Nominations, an update on the WGA strike, a mini-review of “Sweeney Todd” and the realization of twinhood .
Crissi’s random distraction recommendation: Dogster and Catster.
Theme music is “These Photographs” by Joshua Radin.
Twins separated at birth are reunited at 3 years of age
We just found this audio clip from a BBC news service. Several years ago, 2 little girls were abandoned at the gates of a textile factory in China, and they were presumably twins. They ended up in a local orphanage, and both were individually adopted by families in Chicago and Florida. (Why the orphanage didn’t keep them together, we can’t even guess.)
Coincidentally, the girls were given the same name by there new parents – Mia. The adoptive mothers of the girls connected through an internet forum, discovering that their girls had (nearly) the same birthday. They ended up running DNA testing and determined that the girls were definitely sisters.
As you listen to the clip, the girls end up speaking to the reporter and the similarities are definite. But we have to wonder if they are in fact fraternal twins, since they didn’t mention that they had duplicate DNA but familial DNA.
1/22/08 Podcast
Download the January 22, 2008 podcast.
(Hover over link to pop up the audio player.)
Included in this podcast is the depressing discussion of Heath Ledger’s passing, hippies always win, Cloverfield is a recommendation for those who like disaster or monster movies and twin memory switching.
Crissi’s random distraction recommendation: Bookcrossing.com, Bookmooch.com, and Paperbookswap.com.
Again, we had a few recording issues, and there is some garbled audio. We genuinely apologize.
Theme music is “These Photographs” by Joshua Radin.
Sudanese Twins star in Sundance Documentary
“The Art Star and the Sudanese Twins” follows artist Vanessa Beecroft as she becomes more and more attached to a set of twin orphans in Sudan. She intends to adopt the pair, and throughout the process, she begins the bonding process through breast feeding and incorporating them into her art.
It’s a controversial documentary that has found an audience this week at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, UT. Although we typically are more interested in the experiences and relationships of the twins themselves, this film deals in the interesting and complicated relationships surrounding this particular twin set. And Sundance holds a special place in our hearts because Crissi used to work there.
