Twins in The Media
Throughout history, the fascination about craniopagus twins has continually increased as neurobiology and the field of neuroscience has become more interesting to the public. Recently in 2011, The New York Times covered a story of two craniopagus twin girls who share a brain and seem to show all different kinds of physiological and emotional responses due to their condition. Krista and Tatiana Hogan, who are now 5 years old, live life just like other 5 year old do. Although seemingly sharing a brain, the two girls showed distinct personalities and behavior. One example was when Krista started drinking her juice Tatiana felt it physically going through her body. In any other set of twins the natural conclusion about the two events would be that Krista's drinking and Tatiana's reaction would be coincidental. But because Krista and Tatiana are connected at their heads, whatever the girls do they do it together. In this case, brain images revealed that there was an attenuated line stretching between the two brains and forming a "thalamic bridge", a bridge connecting the two thalami. Knowing that the thalamus acts as a major control panel within the body, it is believed that the girls share part of this control panel and so when one girl drinks the other one feels it. This along with many other cases, has advanced social media and neurological related research concerning this kind of link between craniopagus twins. Unfortunately, no controlled studies have been done because the twins are so young and their brains are still very maleable and plastic.
Read more about this topic: Craniopagus Twins
Famous quotes containing the words twins in, twins and/or media:
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—Pamela Patrick Novotny (20th century)
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“The media no longer ask those who know something ... to share that knowledge with the public. Instead they ask those who know nothing to represent the ignorance of the public and, in so doing, to legitimate it.”
—Serge Daney (1944–1992)