Twins Research: How Intriguing!

In science class, Jessica is learning about genetics and heredity, and she studied twins! Well, she read about why scientists and psychologists study twins and then wrote a persuasive "Letter to the Editor." She even looked at photos and excerpts from the book Entwined Lives: Twins and What They Tell Us about Human Behavior by prominent psychologist and researcher Nancy Segal, an expert on twins. 

Read Jessica's thoughts below. 

Twinsies!

            Not all twins mind being twins, in fact they like the fact there is another person their age to play with, they can switch clothes and do fun things together. The reason doctors and psychologists take such an interest in twins is because the can see what diseases, mutations, and personalities are hereditary and which are caused by the environment. If a mom who smoked got lung cancer and had twins, since they are a genetic copy of each other, they could see if smoking caused it. If one smoked and one didn’t, but they both ended up with lung cancer, you could clearly see that they had the genes for lung cancer.

            Twin studies, especially in identical twins, can act like a genetic control, since they are essentially clones of each other. If they are raised in two separate environments, you would be able to observe and see how much of their personality is the same, different, or what is like their parents they are raised with, and their genetic parents. Psychologists are trying to figure out how much of personality is hereditary and how much is nature. They found out that 50% of intelligence is passed down. I think that as long as the twins and the parents are okay with the research being conducted, it is up to them and not the public.