Science Questions

My gran is an identical twin. My mum is also a twin, but I’m not. Is the chance increased that I will have twins, or is that actually a myth? Lisa Brooks, via Twitter

We put this to Oriane from Cambridge Temperature Concepts:

Oriane: -   Well, there’s not much information about identical twins being something you can pass on generation from generation.  However, if your mum has a non-identical twin, then your chances of having twins are quite increased as well.

Chris: -   Why is that?

Oriane -   Why is that?  The first one is identical twins which results from one sperm meeting the egg and then the egg dividing into two embryos instead of just one as would occur normally. In the case of non-identical twins, you’ll have the two eggs that are produced and each meets a separate sperm, and that is something that can be passed on generation to generation.

November 2009