Semi-identical Twins!

[hgc]

From bbc, a story about twins who are identical on their mother's side and fraternal on their father's side. Thought to be unique in all the world. Very cool stuff.

They are the result of two sperm cells fertilising a single egg, which then divided to form two embryos - and each sperm contributed genes to each child.

 

[Ziggurat]

Thought to be unique in all the world.

Almost certainly isn't unique. Prior to the advent of DNA fingerprinting, you'd never be able to tell the difference between this and ordinary fraternal twins, and even now, most fraternal twins probably don't get DNA testing done, so I'm sure there are more cases out there (though it probably is rare). It is interesting, though.

 

[andyandy]

oi! Get your hands off my thread!

 

[hgc]

oi! Get your hands off my thread!

Hey, I looked half way down the page to see if there was already a thread. That's what I call a good faith effort. Can I help it if your thread was on the bottom half of the page?

 

[Ziggurat]

Dude, when an angry orangutan tells you to let go of something, let it go...