People who are similar but not related share some of the same DNA and behave similarly. The finding came from a Spanish study published Tuesday in the specialized journal Cell Report. In it, the authors examined pairs of people who looked alike without family relationships. At the same time, scientists believe that, according to their results, it can be concluded that each of us has a weakness somewhere in the world.
Doppelgangers are also often used during filming, as they replace their main acting counterparts. Daniel Craig pictured with his double body on the set of No Time To Die in 2019. | | Source: Profimedia
Canadian artist François Brunel has been traveling the world since 1999 in order to find doppelgangers, which he then photographed together for a project I’m not the same!. His collection of paintings received a response not only on social networks, but also attracted the attention of the scientific field, namely, the Spanish researcher Manel Esteler. He had previously been involved in research on physical differences between identical twins, where he was interested in the exact opposite phenomenon.
Language is the basis of everything. The anthropologist explains that there is much that unites human cultures
Read the article
So he assembled a team of experts, who then contacted 32 pairs that Brunel had found in different parts of the world for studies Share. These people are not related to each other, in some cases their roots extend to completely different continents.
the same genetic variants
Using three facial recognition systems, 16 pairs were selected from this group and the software rated their similarity roughly as biological identical twins. The researchers took DNA samples from these people, asked them to fill out questionnaires about their lives, and subject them to further examination.
The results showed that these pairs share a much larger share of genetic information than is common in humans, especially so-called single nucleotide polymorphisms. “We’ve shown that it’s very common for a number of different genetic variants to be homozygous in twins,” Esteller said. This is information that has not been scientifically verified yet.
However, the research also focused on other factors that could play a role in this condition. “There’s a reason these people aren’t quite the same,” Esteller explains.
Irrelevant external influences
Part of the study was also devoted to environmental influences, especially microorganisms that affect the human body, such as bacteria, viruses and microbes. Our bodies acquire these according to the environment around them. In this case, the researchers noted much larger differences, which ruled out that individual living conditions or shared experiences could have contributed to the shape.
A new Czech cancer drug is progressing to the next stage of clinical trials. It will be tested on 300 patients
Read the article
“The similarity between them was determined purely by genetics,” Esteller said. Despite this, he came to another surprising conclusion. The people who took part in the research showed not only their physical appearance.
The results show that couples, without necessarily having been in contact before, also have common habits such as smoking. Moreover, they also achieved a similar education or weighed similarly.
The future of healthcare
The authors are aware that the sample examined is small, but believe that it is still statistically significant. According to them, even with a larger sample, the results will not change much. At the same time, according to them, it is possible to effectively apply the results in practice.
He sees potential in medicine, for example. People with similar DNA tend to be susceptible to the same diseases that result from genetic information. In the future, doctors could use this information to analyze the face, which could become a way to pre-determine the risks of some of these diseases.
The pilot was identified in the unmarked cemetery 79 years later. DNA from circumstance helped with that
Read the article
At the same time, he also draws attention to the potential risks of using facial recognition software, which is becoming an increasingly common part of cybersecurity, for example, airport security systems. “From the results, you can tell that these systems are unreliable and two different people can get confused,” she said. CNN Scientist Karen Gharib.
Everyone may have a similar one
The fact that the emergence of doubles is primarily genetics means to some extent that their existence is rather the result of chance, fueled by population growth. As the number of people in the world increases, so does the possibility of identical genetic variations appearing in other people who are not related in any way.
“I think we can all find someone somewhere now who looks almost exactly like us. Doppelganger,” concludes research leader Manil Esteler.
#weakness #study #similar #people #partly #linked #DNA
