No, Really!

"Our study provides a rare insight into human likeness by showing that people with extreme look-alike faces share common genotypes."

"We provided a unique insight into the molecular characteristics that potentially influence the construction of the human face."

"It would be very interesting to follow up the potential application in forensics, using the genome of unknown people to prepare bio-informatic strategies to reconstruct the face from DNA."

"And in medicine, we may be able to deduce the genome of a person from facial analysis and hence use this as a pre-screening tool to detect the presence of genetic mutations associated with disease and apply preventive strategies at an early stage."

Dr.Manel Estelier, Joseph Carreras Leukaemia Research Institute, Barcelona, Spain

Four pairs of "human doubles" included in the study Courtesy of François Brunelle

 

Imagine that someone you don't know, have never before met, looks so identical to you, they could be your twin. Facial features just so exactly alike. Would you ever imagine that this same unknown person is alike to you in many other ways? Their personal inclinations, value system, choices in life to the extent that their experiences are uncannily like your own. You may live on a different continent, have a different culture and language, a heritage unlike that other person, but research seems to indicate that you and this person share an amazing trajectory in life.

Sounds like fiction, but Spanish researchers appear to have looked deeply enough through an in-depth study of the genetics and behaviour of completely unrelated people whose facial features are very alike to feel confident that their finding is fact, not fiction. They recruited 16 pairs of doubles, taken from photographs representing the work of a Canadian artist who collects photos of unrelated look-alikes. Study participants completed a detailed questionnaire of factors ranging from education and smoking habits to alcohol consumption and marital status.

When the results were tabulated, a strong correlation was recognized between people who appeared as lookalikes and their lifestyles and behavioural traits. Furthermore, when genetic profiles were studied the research team discovered that people who look alike actually possessed similar DNA. Pairs of lookalikes were found to share 20,000 genetic variants reflecting facial features and relating to bone structure, skin texture, body fat, liquid retention, and even characteristics of personality, such as addictions.

 

Not only was it found through this study that the doppelgangers reflected similar lifestyles and facial features, but genetic analysis indicated that nine of the 16 pairs had many single nucleotide polymorphisms, the most common type of genetic variation among individuals. The research study saw publication in the journal Cell Reports.

Interestingly enough, the perception that character can be determined through analysis of facial characteristics has a storied past, dating to ancient Greece, when Aristotle claimed it to be "possible to infer character from features". What can be inferred is prejudices. The practise of physiognomy was taught in British Universities back in the Middle Ages, to assess a person's character from their outward appearance. The theory was eventually put to an end in 1530 by Henry VIII.

Revisited however, in the 19th century, believed by early criminologists that felons could be identified through certain facial features. A low-sloping forehead, long arms and handle-shaped ears identified as indicative of a criminal mind. As in reference to knuckle-dragging Neanderthals, a species of hominids as a subspecies of homo sapiens. That view of grunting, brainless subhumans has been rectified with the discovery of Neanderthals' likeness to modern humans, the size of their brains, their appreciation of art, their ability to make weapons, their burial ceremonies and much more.