Silly curiosity question

[Dave Anderson NH]

For you law enforcement and geneticist folks, a question.

Do identical twins have identical fingerprints?

[Bill Dufour]

No, but DNA is identical. Twins are often mirror images with their hair part line opposite. I wonder if one is often left handed?
Bill D

[Steve Demuth]

For you law enforcement and geneticist folks, a question.

Do identical twins have identical fingerprints?

Not identical, but generally very similar. Fingerprints are not entirely determined by genetics, but are strongly influenced by genes.

Prints from the same finger of a pair of identical twins: 441701

[Andrew Gibson]

I have uncles that are identical twins, one is right handed and the other left handed. They used to get put in different classes in school so they wouldn't cause trouble. They figured out that they only had to study for half the tests and would each take the same test twice by switching shirts between classes. They are also both reasonably ambidextrous and would write with either hand. All went will until one brought his baseball glove in after recess and the teacher noticed it was for the wrong hand. Neither would admit how long they had been pulling the scheme but everyone suspected was the better part of a year.

[Doug Garson]

I have uncles that are identical twins, one is right handed and the other left handed. They used to get put in different classes in school so they wouldn't cause trouble. They figured out that they only had to study for half the tests and would each take the same test twice by switching shirts between classes. They are also both reasonably ambidextrous and would write with either hand. All went will until one brought his baseball glove in after recess and the teacher noticed it was for the wrong hand. Neither would admit how long they had been pulling the scheme but everyone suspected was the better part of a year.
No offence to you but gotta wonder about how they were taught right and wrong growing up if they thought this was ok to do.

[Mel Fulks]

I read that the wives of identical twins sometimes make them get distinguishing tattoos

[Doug Garson]

I remember Alain Vigneault, former coach of the Vancouver Canucks admitted even after coaching the Sedin twins for several years he couldn't tell them apart.

[Charlie Velasquez]

No offence to you but gotta wonder about how they were taught right and wrong growing up if they thought this was ok to do.

A case demonstrating how far both parents and coaches will go to win:
Little League had a rule about the maximum number of innings a kid could pitch in a week (since changed to # of pitches).
One team had a set of identical twins, Billy and Bob. Both pitched, but one, Billy, was better; the coach would often use him as a “closer” in the final innings. If Billy had used up his innings for the week he would come to the next game wearing Bob’s jersey.

[Doug Dawson]

For you law enforcement and geneticist folks, a question.

Do identical twins have identical fingerprints?

Is that all you have to go on? I’m with you, that’s been a problem for me for just about forever.

[Alan Rutherford]

No, but DNA is identical. Twins are often mirror images with their hair part line opposite. I wonder if one is often left handed?
Bill D

I believe identical twins are normally if not always opposite-handed.

There was something on TV the other day about identical twin women who married identical twin men. Each couple had a child and because both male parents shared the same DNA, as did both female parents, both children had the same parental DNA. In other words, even though they had separate mothers and fathers, biologically they were siblings.

[Doug Garson]

A case demonstrating how far both parents and coaches will go to win:
Little League had a rule about the maximum number of innings a kid could pitch in a week (since changed to # of pitches).
One team had a set of identical twins, Billy and Bob. Both pitched, but one, Billy, was better; the coach would often use him as a “closer” in the final innings. If Billy had used up his innings for the week he would come to the next game wearing Bob’s jersey.

What that tells me is that coach should never be allowed anywhere near any playing field, hockey rink, etc. He doesn't understand the role of a coach in youth sports. Winning at any cost is totally unacceptable. Coaching youth sports is not about winning it's about building character, pushing your limits to achieve more than you thought you could, working together as a team, respecting the rules and your opponents.
In addition to that, limits are there to protect the player from ruining his arm. When I was in my teens I umpired at a local ball diamond. There was one guy who was a great pitcher, his allstar team would play games against the next age group and he would strike out a dozen hitters in nine innings. By the time he was eligible to play in that next age group his arm was toast and the guy who used to be his catcher was pitching and he was catching. Problem was, he couldn't throw anyone out at second base.

[Steve Demuth]

I believe identical twins are normally if not always opposite-handed.

There was something on TV the other day about identical twin women who married identical twin men. Each couple had a child and because both male parents shared the same DNA, as did both female parents, both children had the same parental DNA. In other words, even though they had separate mothers and fathers, biologically they were siblings.

That is a great story. Thanks for a smile to close the day.

Just to be clear though, the children would not have identical DNA, they would each have a unique combination of DNA drawn partially from their mother, and partially from their father. You wouldn't be able to distinguish of the two couples they got that DNA from, and they would have the same consanguinity as siblings, but they wouldn't have the same DNA any more than I have the same DNA as my non-identical brothers and sisters.

[Andrew Gibson]

No offence to you but gotta wonder about how they were taught right and wrong growing up if they thought this was ok to do.

Haha, none taken. I could follow that with the fact that they got in big trouble. They both got summer school and lots of extra chores on the farm after the initial punishment.

[Kev Williams]

That is a great story. Thanks for a smile to close the day.

Just to be clear though, the children would not have identical DNA, they would each have a unique combination of DNA drawn partially from their mother, and partially from their father. You wouldn't be able to distinguish of the two couples they got that DNA from, and they would have the same consanguinity as siblings, but they wouldn't have the same DNA any more than I have the same DNA as my non-identical brothers and sisters.

Makes me wonder about my family tree, the part where my Mom's sister married my dad's brother. When checking the DNA of me, my 4 siblings and my 4 cousins, would they be able to tell if there was 2, 3 or 4 parents? I'm assuming yes but no clue ;)

[Bruce King]

Makes me wonder about my family tree, the part where my Mom's sister married my dad's brother. When checking the DNA of me, my 4 siblings and my 4 cousins, would they be able to tell if there was 2, 3 or 4 parents? I'm assuming yes but no clue ;)

The testing indicates a genetic distance and tags parents and siblings very easily but they all have to be tested within the same database.
I’ve been researching family dna, the most interesting for me is the Ydna. It is only passed down from father to son and goes back as far as last names have been used. For most everyone you will see other last names you are related to. Some are due to last name changes hundreds of years ago and some are due to children born out of wedlock between recent and way back. Some are due to two brothers that went separate ways in the early ages and each picked a different last name without ever knowing what the other picked.
I would have never figured out my genealogy without help from distant cousins that knew things about the family in the early 1800’s. Sites like Ancestry have info other than Dna that is not accurate because they suggest links to you and other family trees on there have massive errors. The only way to be sure of anything is to have family records in bibles or other places. Famous or rich families back in the 1700’s and before might have records and common folk want to be related to them so they take those suggestions online without one iota of proof.
We can’t trace the King name past Katherine King b1778 but the Ancestry site will take it back to all sorts of people based on hunches.

[Steve Demuth]

Makes me wonder about my family tree, the part where my Mom's sister married my dad's brother. When checking the DNA of me, my 4 siblings and my 4 cousins, would they be able to tell if there was 2, 3 or 4 parents? I'm assuming yes but no clue ;)

It's a really interesting question. With a deep analysis of the DNA, for sure. Probably with a fairly casual analysis. Unless the two female siblings or the two male siblings were identical twins, they had quite different DNA mixes. A little example illustrates (not saying any of this is true - just making a point): If the parents of the girls were both brown eyed, but heterozygous, then one girl could easily have had blue eyes (homozygous recessive) and the other brown (and been homozygous dominant). The second could not be the parent of a blue eyed grandchild. Given the thousands of SNPs that could be tested in routine genetic analysis, you're pretty much guaranteed to find ones that identify the parents definitively.

[Steve Demuth]

That is a great story. Thanks for a smile to close the day.

Just to be clear though, the children would not have identical DNA, they would each have a unique combination of DNA drawn partially from their mother, and partially from their father. You wouldn't be able to distinguish of the two couples they got that DNA from, and they would have the same consanguinity as siblings, but they wouldn't have the same DNA any more than I have the same DNA as my non-identical brothers and sisters.

I just wanted to clarify my comment above. You wouldn't be able to distinguish which twin was a child's parent through casual genetic analysis. A thorough analysis would almost certainly reveal the answer though. Even though identical twins start with identical DNA, by the time you get to the point that they are producing gametes, the cell line has undergone many divisions, and accumulated some mutations. Looking carefully at a full genome, would reveal the truth. This is in fact how the strain analysis you hear about for the SARS-CoV2 virus is done - nominally, all SARS-CoV2 virus should be identical, but their mutations get in and get propagated, allowing one to identify and track strains. It happens of course much more frequently in a virus, and their are many more viral replications, but the rate in humans is high enough that you'd almost certainly be able to trace back to the actual parent.

[Jim Koepke]

Famous or rich families back in the 1700’s and before might have records and common folk want to be related to them so they take those suggestions online without one iota of proof.
We can’t trace the King name past Katherine King b1778 but the Ancestry site will take it back to all sorts of people based on hunches.

It makes it more interesting for people to talk about. The Ancestry site saying one's lineage is traced back to the Magna Carta better than saying they think a family line can be traced back to some guy who got off a boat in New York during the 1840s from somewhere in Europe.

jtk

[Bill Dufour]

I looked it up and roughly 10% of the general population are left handed. roughly 20% of identical twins are left handed. Pretty much any identical twin who is left handed has a right handed twin.
Bill D

[Jim Matthews]

I remember Alain Vigneault, former coach of the Vancouver Canucks admitted even after coaching the Sedin twins for several years he couldn't tell them apart.

He just held out their jerseys at the top of the stairs - and da boyz sorted it out.

https://theprovince.com/sports/hockey/ed-willes-canucks-at-50-the-sedins-1-and-1a-on-the-list-of-the-greatest-canucks-of-all-time

[Bob Turkovich]

There are two subjects in this thread that I have personal experience with - 1.) parental DNA chain 2.) identical twins

My brother and I are married to two sisters. He is two years older than me - our wives are two years apart (although reversed).

(Side note: We both have identical BS Aero E degrees from the same university. Our Masters degrees are also from the same university but in different fields. We both retired from the same company. We lived 4 miles apart - belonged to the same swim club and tennis club. We each have a son and a daughter. His are two years older than mine. The list goes on - my late mother would go through the whole list when talking to friends and would finish it with "They still don't get along with each other...")

Our sons do not look at all alike. They do, however, have similar interests and consider each other "best friends".

Our daughters also do not look alike. Their relationship would be best described as cordial.


My son and daughter-in-law have blessed us with three grandsons. The eldest is 8 years old, the other two are 5 1/2 year old twins. DNA testing has confirmed that the twins are identical.

I am a "converted" lefty; my daughter and daughter-in law are left-handed as well. All other parents/grandparents are right-handed.

All three boys are right-handed. The twins part their hair on the same side. (Sorry, Dave - no fingerprint data on the twins.)


442065


And no, I can't tell the twins apart. The longer hair makes it even more difficult.:mad:

[Kev Williams]

442065


And no, I can't tell the twins apart. The longer hair makes it even more difficult.:mad:

<<--Left twin's right eyebrow seems to have more of a sharp (^) arc to it, while
-->> Right twin's right eyebrow seems to have more of smooth (͡ ) arc...

-but that could just be due to how they're smiling :)