![]() ![]() S HELM: Alison told us that Francis Galton was a gentleman of science in the late 1800s. And she is an assistant professor of anthropology at the University of Colorado Boulder. She's also studied the history of twin studies. She is herself an identical twin who studies researchers who studied twins. She is like the Russian nesting doll of twin study researchers. The researcher was a man named Francis Galton.ĪLISON COOL: Galton was the one who kind of, like, harnessed that existing cultural fascination and turned it into this scientific proof of his theory of heredity. K DUFFIN: This kind of fascination that we experience every day - that fascination is what sparked the very first twin study all the way back in the 1800s. M DUFFIN: I have two minutes on Karen, so I lord that over her.Į HELM: I find the exact same thing, Marie. K DUFFIN: Do you know what Eliza is thinking, Sally? So one we always get - can you read each other's minds? My sister and I don't look alike, but we get these, too. And then the questions begin, which are always the same. Pretty much anytime we meet someone new, people first freak out about how much we look alike, gesture alike, as you can hear, talk alike. And the experience of being a twin is one of constantly being studied. And that is what got us thinking about twins and the experience of being a twin. S HELM: And that day is today, August 2, the day that this show is airing. You and I and our twins - all four of us were born on the same day. M DUFFIN: Your birthday is the same as ours. K DUFFIN: We decided to do this show today in part because of a very strange coincidence. And we explore the dark side of twin science. We learn what those researchers were studying with that electrode cap. We perform a micro twin study on our own sisters. S HELM: We go deep on the history and design of the twin study. K DUFFIN: Today on the show, how did we get to a place where 9-year-old Sally and Eliza were sitting in a chair with electrodes sticking out of their heads for science? M DUFFIN: Hello, and welcome to PLANET MONEY. (SOUNDBITE OF STEPHANE CAISSON'S "GUINGUETTE") S HELM: Twin studies have helped us understand things about our mental health, our earning capacity, our ability to learn, our propensity for addiction and whether we hit people with bats, broken bottles or bricks. The answer has real-world implications for things like how the government spends money, how we design our laws - for a lot of the things we talk about here at PLANET MONEY. K DUFFIN: And this is not just a philosophical question, or even a scientific one. How much control do we actually have over our own lives? Do we have, like, free will? S HELM: Twins are a natural experiment in genetics, and they have helped scientists answer what is perhaps the biggest question of all. K DUFFIN: Sally, last week, we got all of our twins in the studio to get to the bottom of this twin study and the many, many other ways that twins have been studied because - I promise I'm not just saying this because I'm a twin - but we twins, we are this lucky break for science. S HELM: Wow, you do really sound a lot like Karen. Sally and Eliza are very important to science because they are not just sisters they are twins. K DUFFIN: There was something - a big something. And in our 9-year-old brains, we're just trying to figure out, like, what are they seeing right now?Į HELM: Why are you showing me this? There has to be something. My sister and I played Bop It together while the researchers watched us. Have you ever pinched anyone besides your sister? No. They asked me, like, have you ever hit anyone with a brick, broken bottle or bat? No. K DUFFIN: In the other room, a different researcher is quizzing little Sally, and the questions were weird. ![]() And then they turn on the TV.Į HELM: And then they showed us videos that were disturbing or sad or scary. K DUFFIN: The scientists put this thing on her head, connected those electrodes to her scalp. And there were wires coming out of your head. S HELM: Well, it was a shower-cap-looking thing.Į HELM: It was, like, gel and the hole - and the little holes. ![]() Eliza got taken into a separate room.Į HELM: And I think I was the first one with the cap. When I was about 9 years old, my sister and I were brought to a university campus in Los Angeles to be studied.ĮLIZA HELM: I remember going up in the elevator and being very intimidated just about the whole setup. ![]()
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