Two of a Kind: Overview : SBS Insight

Overview

What's it like to grow up with another you?

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To share not only your face but maybe also your thoughts, your dreams and even your pain? That's a question only identical twins can answer.

A group of 22 identical pairs of twins lets Insight in on the secrets of being a twin.
Studies of identical twins, with their identical DNA, have led to some startling findings about nature and nurture.

They are the perfect genetic design for studying what makes us the way we are . And fraternal twins, whose DNA is no more similar than that of other brothers and sisters, provide scientists with the perfect control group.

Twin studies reveal that our behaviour, our health and most things about us, have a lot more to do with our genes than we used to believe. Even our personality is around 50% inherited.

Professor Nick Martin, a leading geneticist from Queensland, has studied twins for nearly 30 years. He says our social attitudes, how much we watch TV, how successful our marriages are – are all genetically influenced, although some much more than others.

Meet the Guests

Nick Martin

Geneticist, QLD Institute of Medical Research

Professor Nick Martin is a Geneticist and Senior Principal Research Fellow at the Queensland Institute of Medical Research.

Martin has nearly 30 years experience in the area of genetics and twins.

Among his many posts and achievements, he co-founded the Australian Twin Registry in 1978, served for 15 years on the Executive Committee of the International Society of Twin Studies and is currently Editor in Chief of Twin Research. Martin was also the recipient of the 1986 James Shields Award for outstanding contributions to twin research.

David Hay

Psychologist, Curtin University of Technology, WA

Professor David Hay is a trained Psychologist and occupies the Professorial Chair in the School of Psychology at Curtin University, Perth, Western Australia.

Hay has an extensive background in genetics and twin studies. He has run projects relating to twins including the 1976 La Trobe Twin Study and the late 1980’s study ‘Having twins – how does the family cope?’ He has also conducted survey’s concerning the needs of multiples in schools which was followed by a series of workshops and a booklet ‘Twins in School’.

In Western Australia he and colleagues from the Institute of Child Health Research have developed the WA Twin Child Health Study (WATCH) which uses the unique record linkage in that state to identify all multiples and what has happened to them in terms of death ,disability and progress.

Nancy Segal

Psychologist, Twin Studies Centre, California State University, Fullerton

Professor Nancy Segal is the Director of the Twin Studies Center, at California State University, Fullerton and is a twin herself.

Segal has authored many books, essays and studies on twins and is an Associate Editor for the journal Twin Research and Human Genetics as well as Contributing Research Editor for Twins Magazine from 1984-1998.

She is a member of the Advisory Board for the Center for Loss in Multiple Birth. Segal received the 2005 James Shields Award for Lifetime Contributions to Twin Research from the Behavior Genetics Association and International Society for Twin Studies.

Tim Spector

Director, Twin Research Unit, St Thomas's Hospital, London

Professor Tim Spector is a Consultant Rheumatologist at St Thomas' Hospital, London and also Professor of Genetic Epidemiology at Kings College, London. He also runs the UK's largest Twin Research Unit which he started in 1993.

The St Thomas' UK twin Registry (TwinsUK) is the largest of its kind in the world and has detailed information on around 10,000 twins from around the UK. His interest in twins and initially the common diseases arthritis and osteoporosis - led him to explore the genetic basis of a wide range of common diseases and traits many of which were previously thought to be mainly due to ageing and environment. He also runs trials into novel treatments for osteoporosis and osteoarthritis.

His work has been highly publicised through the media with an average of three or four major press releases a year on major papers. His extensive research on genetics inspired him to write a popular book ' Your Genes Unzipped'.