Free Republic

Really? THE FACTS It is a basic tenet of human biology, taught in grade schools everywhere: Identical twins come from the same fertilized egg and, thus, share identical genetic profiles. But according to new research, though identical twins share very similar genes, identical they are not. The discovery opens a new understanding of why two people who hail from the same embryo can differ in phenotype, as biologists refer to a person’s physical manifestation. The new findings appear in the March issue of The American Journal of Human Genetics, in a study conducted by scientists at the University of Alabama...

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) - Identical twins are among the newest priests in the Green Bay Catholic Diocese.Ben and Joel Sember were ordained yesterday along with Andrew Kyserly.James Sember, the twins' father, said he couldn't get them to apply any place else or do anything else.The twins will both serve in the Green Bay diocese, but say their ministries will be different.Joel Sember says that, although they have the same background and the same genes, they have different approach to things in general.His brother, Ben, says he hopes they don't ever get assigned to the same parish. He says it...

U-M scientists find new genes linked to rheumatoid arthritis that are expressed differently in genetically identical twins Ann Arbor, Mich. -- They sleep together, eat together, and most people find it impossible to tell them apart. Identical twins who grow up together share just about everything, including their genes. But sometimes only one twin will have health problems when genetics predicts both of them should. Scientists at the University of Michigan Medical School are just beginning to understand how two people who are so similar biologically can be so different when it comes to the development of diseases like rheumatoid...

A SYDNEY man allegedly telephoned the suspected leader of al-Qa'ida in Spain – Abu Dahdah – seeking help to move a "brother" and his family throughout Europe. The allegation about former Qantas baggage handler Bilal Khazal – made in documents tendered in Mr Dahdah's terrorism trial – contradicts claims by him that he had never spoken to the alleged terror chief, or even knew who he was. As more details of a network of alleged terror supporters in Australia emerged yesterday, it has been claimed a second Australian named in the Spanish court documents, Melbourne cleric Sheikh Mohammed Omran, was...