Posted on 08/23/2022 12:02:46 PM PDT by Red Badger
Lookalike People In Experiment
Look-alikes in the study. (François Brunelle) It appears there's more to a doppelgänger than meets the eye.
DNA analyses of 16 look-alike couples have revealed some unrelated people with super similar faces also have similar heights, weights, habits, and behaviors.
Human resemblance, it would seem, is more than just skin deep.
In the study, 3 different facial recognition algorithms were tasked with scoring the likeness of 32 look-alikes pairs; half were classified as doppelgängers by all 3 algorithms. Researchers then conducted genetic analyses and found 9 pairs of "ultra" look-alikes.
Together, these super doppelgängers share 19,277 common genetic variations in 3,730 genes, many of which are to do with body and facial traits.
Their personal questionnaires suggest they share even more than that.
Some lifestyle features, like smoking habits, weight, and level of education, were also associated with many look-alike pairs.
Admittedly, the sample size is small, but the results, according to the authors, are "striking".
"These findings do not only provide clues about the genetic setting associated with our facial aspect, and probably other traits of our body and personality, but also highlight how much of what we are, and what defines us, is really inherited or instead is acquired during our lifetime," the authors write.
Examples of look-alikes
Look-alikes used in the current study. (François Brunelle)
The powers of nurture and nature are not easily teased apart, and while twin studies are a popular form of research in the field of genetics, doppelgängers are a bit of an untapped market.
Since 1999, Canadian artist François Brunelle has been using the far-reaching fingers of the internet to identify and keep track of look-alikes around the world.
Now, researchers are tapping into his catalog to better understand both what makes us human and what sets individuals apart.
The current study draws on 64 photographs of look-alikes recruited from francoisbrunelle.com, along with saliva DNA and lifestyle questionnaires for each participant.
According to genetic analyses, look-alikes were ultimately found to share similar genetic make-ups, even though pairs were not related.
Individual participants differed, however, in how their life impacted their genome.
Each person's microbiome, for instance, is heavily influenced by environmental factors like nutrition, exercise, and smoking.
This means the world of bacterial life in our guts differs quite a lot from individual to individual, even among those who have similar genetics.
The same goes for each look-alike's epigenome, which describes the chemical modifications made to coiled strands of DNA that can turn genes on or off. These differed even among ultra look-alikes in the current study.
This study builds on past research that suggests the structure of the human face, especially the nose, is sculpted by specific parts of DNA.
That doesn't mean look-alikes are long-lost twins or kindred spirits. None of the participants in the current study inherited their genes from the same recent ancestors.
Their genetic similarities represent a distinct subset of human resemblance that could one day be used to predict how an individual might grow and age.
"We provided a unique insight into the molecular characteristics that potentially influence the construction of the human face," says biomedical scientist Manel Esteller from the Josep Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute in Barcelona, Spain.
"We suggest that these same determinants correlate with both physical and behavioral attributes that constitute human beings."
The study was published in Cell Reports.
25 years ago I was in a video store and saw my boss. I kept attempting to make eye contact but there was absolutely no recognition on his part. I didn’t know what to think but chalked it up to not being at work and/or him being engrossed in deciding what to rent.
I mentioned it to him at work the next week and learned his twin brother was in town visiting and that was who I saw at the video rental store. I did not know up to that time that he was a twin.
They look like the stupid Bush.
Good job you got that sorted out.
“Just let him go to his nothing box. Stay away.”
Works every time it’s tried, ladies.
I notice that there are types like construction workers, motorcycle riders, office workers, politicians.
Good looking people like me etc.
By the time you hit forty your face is what you have designed it with your expressions and habits.
This was known centuries ago.
Maybe they are actually the same person using two different IDs and the differences are due to errors in the DNA test.
I once knew a guy who looked so much like Tom Petty, not a day went by without someone asking if he was him. He got all the downside of being famous...getting stared at, bugged for autographs, etc., but none of the upside, (millions of dollars, applause, etc.)
Thanks for posting.
My son could easily play TP in a movie if they made one without the footage of Tom. He’s a bass player in a band, but also plays guitar. He knows how to move cause that’s part of performing for an audience.
Dumb study.
If the didn’t have similar life habits, their appearances would not look so similar and be included in the study.
If one person eats healthy and weight 170 lbs, and the other weighs 250, you probably would never notice that they would otherwise look very similar.
So they’re saying forget anybody that looks like your EX because its gonna be the same old crap all over again.
My son was a Macauly Culkin look alike. The first home alone movie, at that age, they look like twins. As adults, still very similar, but son is more muscular.
Good one!
In the Pittsburgh area, where there are many descendants of Russian and Slavic immigrants, I met a fellow about fifty years of age who looked amazingly like Vladimir Putin. I finally said that to him and the people around him laughed. He said he gets that comment all the time and people even ask to be photographed with him. Yes, he is of East European ancestry.
My son that looks like a young TP also looked like Macaulay Culkin when he was 7 or 8. Slicked his wet blond hair back, put water on his face (instead of after shave) and screamed. We all thought it was funny at the time. I bet he doesn’t like the comparison now. Does yours?
My mother’s brother’s son married a woman who looked like she could be my sister. She had the same last name as mine too.
Her family had been in Ireland for centuries. My family came from England. If our families had a common ancestor, it would have to have been over 600 years ago.
I dated a guy once who could have been my brother. He too had the same last name. But his father’s family came from France.
Thank you ! Collective Freeper knowledge always astounds me.
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