From pre-school to kindergarten and through eighth grade, I shared a classroom with my twin brother. In grade school we were very similar; always got the same question on a test wrong, always put the same answers, and always sat nowhere near each other. Everyone thought we had some kind of telepathy but my parents always just thought it was because we studied together. There are many studies about this kind of behavior but most are done on same-sex twins.

One solution that was researched is the separation of twins in the classroom. One study looked at 1,500 same-sex twins in the United States and Australia. This study was done in an effort to observe reading levels when they entered the third grade. At first, the study showed the twin who were kept together had a higher reading level and those who were separated had lower scores. After third variables such as disciplinary actions and parents’ decisions, the results balanced out. This result ultimately showed that the separation made no difference in the learning atmosphere.

This study has a great number of participants and third variables but there are some slight things wrong. This observational study did not take into account the gender difference that some twins have. This study also only tested a few short years of early learning so we do not know how it would play out in further learning. Ultimately, this is a good experiment with minor flaws.

http://christinabaglivitinglof.com/school-age-twins/what-does-the-research-tell-us-about-twins-sharing-the-same-classroom/

No one believes me when I say I didn’t drink milk as a child or as an infant. I was put on formula as an infant and never had milk for as long as I can remember. And literally no one believes me when I say I had Gatorade in my bottle. So how did I turn out normal?

Researchers are saying that too much milk is ultimately bad for kids. It is said that it is bad for iron levels. Dr. Jonathon Maguire, a researcher at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, started a study that observed 1,300 kids, ages 2-5. They measured many third variables such as how much time they spent outside, their skin pigmentation, their body mass index, and whether they drank from bottles. The children who drank more milk were found to have higher levels of Vitamin D and lower levels of iron found by samples of their blood.

After this study, the researchers found a breakeven point of two cups of milk to balance out the Vitamin D and iron. This is much different from what most parents actually practice.

This study is observational and also takes third variables into consideration. Some may say that this experiment could suffer slightly from the Texas Sharp Shooter problem, measuring various things and of course something will be found. Although this does not explain why I have never drank milk and still have low iron, but my case is only one anecdote.

http://healthland.time.com/2012/12/21/milk-for-kids-2-cups-a-day-no-more-and-no-less/

My dad has been bald my entire life but this started way before the stress of my brother and I came along. He has been balding since the age of 18. My brother, age 19, is petrified. Does my dad’s baldness predict my brother’s future?

According to Markus Nöthen, a genomics professor at Germany’s University of Bonn, the most common form of balding comes from a gene on the X chromosome. The X chromosome is passed to the son from the mother which implies that the baldness gene comes from the mother ironically, not the father. Men should not look at their mother as an example of their future hair loss, but rather from the men on her side of the family. A group of 200 bald men were involved in a study in which 95 families with two brothers or more experience premature hair loss.

This study is observational and does not look at third variables which are mentioned in the article that could also be the cause of the baldness. Since there is no experiment, most may not want to fully accept this research, although it is based on a very possible cause.

http://www.webmd.com/skin-problems-and-treatments/hair-loss/news/20050527/blame-male-pattern-baldness-on-mom

Comments like the one pictured above have been the brunt of our family jokes for my entire life. My brother and I are the outer two brunette people pictured above and my biological, same mom, same dad, same everything sister is the red head in the middle. This confuses everyone who meets us and it is completely normal for us to have to explain that we really are blood-related sisters. We lovingly joke how no one likes redheads and that her ginger kids could be extremely ugly one day but it is all in good fun and she knows how to dish it back. Our joke is actually a reality as shown in recent studies.

Nicolas Guéguen from the Université de Bretagne-Sud, in France, recently did a study on different hair colors and how attractive they are to other people. A female would go to a nigh club and see how many men approached her per night. The experiment lasted one hour per night for sixteen nights within four weeks. The female subjects changed their hair color four different times to four different colors through wigs. The results showed that 127 men approached the blond, 84 approached the brunette, 82 approached the black haired woman, and only 29 approached the redhead. This was parallel to other research which showed that 80% dislike redheads.

Two other researchers, Viren Swami and Seishin Barrett, psychologists at the University of Westminster, did almost the same experiment and found similar results. A woman subject, naturally brunette, dyed her hair blond and red to see the different number of men she would attract by sitting at a bar for an hour over several weeks. 60 men approached the blond, 42 approached the brunette, and only 18 approached the redhead. During this period, researchers took a survey from the men at the clubs and from pictured of the subject, it was determined that the brunette was the most attractive, contrary to the study.

The results were similar and may make some convinced of the attraction,\. There are many things right about the experiment but also many things wrong with this study. First, these two studies look at women and how attractive they are to men, not vice versa. Secondly, there are few observations recorded so we can’t know for sure. Lastly, this study is done in the UK so we do not know how the result would differ for us in the US. The best thing, in my opinion, is keeping the women as the controls, having only the hair change. This keeps the facial features constant while still testing only the hair color, instead of having a totally different person.

Maybe next time, I’ll hold back from making fun of my sister’s genetics because this is a more serious matter than I thought.

http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/dr-raj-persaud/redheads-psychology_b_1911771.html

Associate head coach of University of Washington’s women’s soccer team, Amy Griffin, visits cancer patients in hospitals for support of the victims. While visiting a patient, a nurse mentioned that the patient was the fourth goalkeeper she “hooked up (on chemo) this week”. This struck as an odd occurrence for Griffin. Coach Griffin is quoted as saying, “I’ve coached for 26, 27 years, my first 15 years, I never heard anything about this. All of a sudden it seems to be a stream of kids.” Coach Griffin has since made a list of 38 soccer players with cancer, 34 of whom are goalies.

This is becoming a bigger concern for people nationwide but there is no scientific link found so far. It has been found that turf is made up of more harmful material than most thought. Turf is believed to contain synthetic fibers and scrap tire. This could ultimately affect the athletes who dive and fall into this treacherous material. This observation is similar to concerns that arose when people started to notice and weird coincidence of smokers getting lung cancer.  

As of right now, this is a rising scare with no actual evidence other than anecdotes of a few people. There would have to be many well conducted experiments to prove this fatal occurrence. Although there is no proof, I do believe there could be some concern in the future.

http://www.nbcnews.com/news/investigations/how-safe-artificial-turf-your-child-plays-n220166

Many people, especially female, including my mom, drink diet coke. Maybe not for the “diet part” but regardless of why, people seem to be enthralled with this drink. I first found out this drink was terrible when we brought diet coke to my mom in the hospital after her heart surgery. Her surgeon warned us to get it out of the room and advised my mom to give it up all together. If a surgeon is giving us a warning, how bad could it really be?

The journal, Circulation, published a study in 2008 in which over the course of 9 years, 9,514 subjects were observed. This study found a 36% increase in metabolic syndrome and a high increase risk of diabetes in the subjects who drank diet soda.

Another study, involving 6,814 subjects ranging from 45-85 years of age confirmed that diet soda showed a 67% increased risk of Type II diabetes. Interestingly, two Harvard University studies showed that diet soda increased the risk of diabetes in women but not men and every one increases this risk by 6%

These studies do not suffer from the file drawer problem because they were published. The numbers are high so we know these studies are relevant. Although I believe these are good studies, there could be other explanations. We cannot rule out reverse causation because diabetes could cause subjects to drink diet coke. We cannot rule out chance and we also cannot rule out third variables because these could affect the studies as well.

Overall and along with studies we have looked at in the past, I believe it would behoove one to stop drinking soda, especially diet soda.

http://authoritynutrition.com/why-is-diet-soda-bad-for-you/

Being a twin for 19 years, I never would want it any other way. Not many twins are separated at birth but when they are, scientists take notice. A duo adopted by two different families, was the cause of interest for many people and still stand as an interest of people like myself after finding each other 39 years later. My brother and I have similarities in everything: values, health, feelings, eating habits, tastes in fashion and music, and countless other things. If we were split up before acquiring these things, would we still have these similarities?
These twins, Jim and Jim, separated at birth were involved in a study along with 136 other separated twins to show similarities caused by genes instead of the environment. This set of twins was the most famous of the bunch. The research found countless similarities that couldn’t have been due to environment because all of these twins grew up in different environments. There were similarities in Jim and Jim in health, both suffering from tension headaches, in habits, both were nail biters and Salem cigarette smokers, and in interests, both drove the same cars and vacationed at the same beach in Florida. (CBN) Studies showed that there were other similarities amongst the other twins in posture, IQ, religiosity, health, and other factors all based on genes and not environment. The twins in these studies show that they are so closely similar due to genetics and not just because they experience the same things and do everything together for their whole lives.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/twin-brothers-separated-at-birth-reveal-striking-genetic-similarities/

Sharing family, sharing a bedroom, sharing toys, and sharing a birthday are just some of the weird things I had to do growing up with my twin brother. People often ask questions like: “Is it weird being a twin?”, “Do you hate having to share a birthday?”, “Do you have twin telepathy?” My brother and I are often found laughing in the faces of absurd people who ask these questions. We don’t think it’s weird being a twin because we’ve never known what it’s like not to be one. We’ve never not shared a birthday with someone so we don’t know if we hate it or not. We definitely can’t read each other’s minds, or talk in a special language without using words, so no we don’t have twin telepathy. Most people don’t understand most parts of our lives and we can’t really explain it either.
My mom and dad have never been around twins before they found out they were having them so they never knew what to expect or how to deal with us. One thing that I wish more than anything is to have twins of my own one day because I know what to expect, how to deal with different situations they will face, and I know just about everything there is to know about twins.
One thing I never really understood was how twins ‘skip a generation’, which inhibits me from knowing if I will have twins of my own or not. Through research, I have found that fraternal twins, like my brother and I, do in fact run in families. It is in fact a myth that twins skip a generation though. This probably came about because of men receiving the gene and not being able to have kids so he passes it on to his daughter, resulting in a skipped generation. So as a twin what is my likelihood? Since I am a fraternal twin, my chances go from 1 in 38-90 down to 1 in 17. I guess I have to wait a couple years to find out, but my twin future looks bright.
http://www.twinstwice.com/twins.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/10/02/health/02real.html?_r=0

Pictured: my brother and I right after his accident; the blue line above his lip is the stitches

Eight grade: one twin is eating in the classroom with the girls while the other one plays football on the playground with the boys. I, the girl, looked in the mirror and marveled over the hive on the upper lip that appeared out of nowhere. Having allergies to food, I thought nothing of the hive until my brother came upstairs from the playground. While playing football, he collided with another boy and got a concussion, but that wasn’t all. In the same exact place where I got a hive, his tooth went through his lip, resulting in a bloody hole. I knew at this moment how closer we actually were. Nothing like this has ever happened to us and to this day that is the only slight telepathy we have every faced.

Although there is no scientific proof of twin telepathy, there are unexplainable anecdotes that occur to many duos. People say these occurrences happen to people with extremely close bonds and I have known no bond closer than that of my brother’s and mine. There is a lot of anecdotal evidence of this being the case but still does not prove that twin telepathy is an actual manifestation.
http://www.twinstuff.com/mythsoftwins.htm
http://multiples.about.com/od/funfacts/a/twintelepathy.htm

My life has been immensely greater being a twin and my mother’s life has been changed in much the same way. When my mom found out she would have twins, she balled her eyes out for weeks and weeks. She gave her love to my older sister first and never thought that she would be able to give as much love to two new babies but she never fails to do so. Little did she know that it was a greater sign than just taking on the role of mother for three kids instead of two. Having my brother and me not only proved how great of a mother my mom is, but also proved that she was “fitter for survival”. (TIME) The article from TIME states that twins put a greater toll on the body, proving that mothers of twins have advantages genetically, physically, and psychologically. This evidence implies a better chance of survival in the long run for mothers who are fit and lucky enough to have twins.
This study is not implying that if you go out and try to have twins you will live longer, but rather saying that women who are made and meant for twins have a leg up in the survival of the fittest so to speak. The moral of this investigation: twins are a blessing in more ways than one.
http://healthland.time.com/2011/05/11/twins-can-mean-a-longer-life-for-mom/

All my mom was worried about when pregnant with twins was if we were conjoined or not. We beat that odd majorly due to the fact that we are fraternal twins, growing from two eggs instead of the same one. Another odd my brother and I beat was left-handedness. Neither me, nor my brother are left handed even though left-handedness is twice as common as twins. (Distractify)

There are many theories of why this could be the case. The most common thought theory is that hand preference is hereditary which is not the case. One theory is that whichever ear is facing out while the baby is in the womb tends to be the dominant side. This is likely to be the case for twins because each baby is on a different side usually. Another theory deals with identical twins. There are cases where identical twins are mirror images, explaining why one twin could be right-handed and one can be left-handed.

Whether it is hereditary, womb positioning, or a mirror image, left-handedness is very common in duos everywhere. Regardless of why, this is just one more interesting aspect of being a twin.

http://news.distractify.com/people/amazing/x-mind-blowing-facts-you-never-knew-about-twins/

http://multiples.about.com/cs/funfacts/a/aatwinhand.htm

Hello everyone! I’m Caroline Ann from Scranton, PA and this is not my first PSU blog!

The reason I took this course and did not major in science stems from with my high school years. Freshman year I was very good at science and enjoyed it quite a bit. Sophomore year ended both of these aspects for me; I did terrible in biology and didn’t like it much at all. This medal, pictured above, is the medal I was able to wear on graduation having been in the National Honor Society. If it weren’t for my sophomore biology course making me strive for my grades, I would have slacked off in high school, having had everything come natural to me prior to that year and never would have received my spot on this society. Starting college, I wanted to take a science course that brought me back to my Freshman year status along with my Sophomore year strive. I chose this course because I was interested in what it offered and I knew I could succeed in it the way I wanted to. Having stated previously, I did not do well in sophomore biology along with junior chemistry which made the decision for me relatively easy for me to not pursue a career or major based on science, one of my weak points.