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Twin peeks

They're womb-mates. They're soulmates. And they're bonded in a way no other human beings can be

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Originally published in Today's Parent September 2006

We’ve always been spellbound by nature’s clones, but in recent years twins have become much more than a curiosity. They’re a living laboratory and the key to solving the great scientific debate of our time: nature versus nurture.

Are some women destined to cheat on their husbands? Is MS hereditary? What goes on inside a teenage brain? There is no better way to solve medical mysteries and unlock the clues to human behaviour than by studying people with a common genetic blueprint.

Nature versus nurture
The “twin method” involves comparing identical twins (100 percent shared genes) to fraternal twins (50 percent).

Over the last decade, Kerry Jang, professor of psychiatry at the University of British Columbia, has collected data from nearly 1,000 pairs of Canadian twins to study mental health, post-traumatic stress and personality disorders.

Behavioural scientist Daniel Pérusse heads up the Quebec Newborn Twin Study. He and a team of doctors have been monitoring the development of twins from birth to school age, trying to decipher how big a role genes play in social adjustment.

And at the University of Western Ontario, Tony Vernon, a professor of psychology, is surveying twins to determine how heredity affects personality, including sense of humour.

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