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Related: About this forumScientists stunned by discovery of 'semi-identical' twins
Boy and girl, now four, are only the second case of sesquizygotic twins recorded
Nicola Davis
@NicolaKSDavis
Wed 27 Feb 2019 17.00 EST
A pair of twins have stunned researchers after it emerged that they are neither identical nor fraternal but something in between.
The team say the boy and girl, now four years old, are the second case of semi-identical twins ever recorded, and the first to be spotted while the mother was pregnant.
The situation was a surprise to the researchers. An ultrasound of the 28-year old mother at six weeks suggested the twins were identical with signs including a shared placenta. But it soon became clear all was not as it seemed.
What happened was the mother came back for her routine ultrasound some months later, and we saw one [twin] to be a boy and one to be a girl, said Dr Michael Gabbett, first author of the report from Queensland University of Technology in Australia. At that point we started the genetic studies and worked it out from there.
More:
https://www.theguardian.com/science/2019/feb/27/scientists-stunned-discovery-semi-identical-twins
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Scientists stunned by discovery of 'semi-identical' twins (Original Post)
Judi Lynn
Feb 2019
OP
RockRaven
(14,972 posts)1. I'm a huge fan of free speech/expression/press, but if I were not, "Scientists stunned by..."
would be on my short list for phrases to eliminate from the lexicon.
It's click-bait, it's lazy, it's usually wrong. And to the extent it is false -- which again is usually "mostly" or "entirely" -- it undermines the public's understanding of how much scientists know/understand about the universe/world/life/etc.
FiveGoodMen
(20,018 posts)3. I agree with your point, in general, but this one DOES seem like a shocker
Did you have any idea there could be semi-identical twins?
I don't even know what process would produce that.
Javaman
(62,530 posts)2. ...
qazplm135
(7,447 posts)4. what about identical cousins?
I mean I know we have one example, but...
MineralMan
(146,317 posts)6. What a crazy pair!