Dear MEL Topic Readers,
Seeing double: School with 44 sets of twins in one year sets world records
44 pairs of twins in the sophomore class of 1,000 students? Yes, there are in a high school near Chicago. Even though multiple births are getting more common these days, that sounds quite a log of twins, doesn’t it? Yes. It in fact set two the Guinness World Records, for most twins and most multiples in a single academic class.
Is it confusing to have so many lookalikes in the same class? Not really. Of the 44 pairs and one triplet, only three pairs are identical twins.
Advancing average age of mothers and the use of fertility drugs seem to be creating more multiples these days. Over 90 percent of multiple births are twins. There are two types of twins, identical and fraternal ones. The former is created when one fertilized egg splits and develops two babies who share the same genetic information. The latter is developed from two eggs that are fertilized by two sperm, just like ordinary sisters or brothers. Those twins are siblings born just at the same time. Approximately two in three sets of twins are fraternal, and they can be either the same or different sex.
Parents of this high school are asked whether they want their twins to be in the same class or not. Teachers may be more confused than their fellow students since they need to keep the record of their students by the family names.
Enjoy reading and learning what the situation is like in this crowded-with-multiples school.
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