We should pause and reflect on the warnings in the Parable of Plato's cave: Nizkor - we must not ever forget the implications of Nihilist, might makes right superman political messiahs and their ideology, Fascism (for a note on roots of ME Bitterness, cf. Food for thought, especially on a day that may have you down. The following video was made when they were in high school:Ī reminder of the human spirit and ability to triumph in the face of adversity.
Other activities as diverse as brushing hair and driving aĬar require that each twin perform a sequence of separate actions that Such as running and swimming must be coordinated and alternate WhileĮach is able to eat and write separately and simultaneously, activities Physical processes that required bodily coordination, such as clapping,Ĭrawling, and walking required the cooperation of both children. This means that as infants, the initial learning of In fact, several vital organs areĭoubled up each twin has a separate heart, stomach, spine, and spinal cord.Įach twin controls her half of their body, operating one of the armsĪnd one of the legs. Giving the appearance of having just a single body with little Due to the brothers' fame and the rarity of the condition, the term came to be used as a synonym for conjoined twins.Abigail Loraine Hensel and Brittany Lee Hensel (born March 7, 1990) are dicephalic parapagus twins, meaning that they are conjoined twins, each of whom has a separate head, but whose bodies are joined. In modern times, they could have been easily separated. Barnum's circus for many years and were billed as the Siamese Twins.Ĭhang and Eng were joined by a band of flesh, cartilage, and their fused livers at the torso. The most famous pair of conjoined twins was Chang and Eng Bunker (Thai: อิน-จัน, In-Chan) (1811–1874), Thai brothers born in Siam, now Thailand. The second theory is fusion, in which a fertilized egg completely separates, but stem cells (which search for similar cells) find like-stem cells on the other twin and fuse the twins together.Ĭonjoined twins share a single common chorion, placenta, and amniotic sac, although these characteristics are not exclusive to conjoined twins as there are some monozygotic but non-conjoined twins that also share these structures in utero. The older and most generally accepted theory is fission, in which the fertilized egg splits partially.
Two contradicting theories exist to explain the origins of conjoined twins. The condition is more frequently found among females, with a ratio of 3:1. The overall survival rate for conjoined twins is approximately 25%.
A rare phenomenon, the occurrence is estimated to range from 1 in 50,000 births to 1 in 100,000 births, with a somewhat higher incidence in Southwest Asia and Africa.Īpproximately half are stillborn, and a smaller fraction of pairs born alive have abnormalities incompatible with life. Located at or below the level of their shared navel.Ĭonjoined twins (also known as Siamese twins) are identical twins whose bodies are joined in utero. However, are in a shared circulatory system (nutrition, respiration, Type on a computer keyboard at a normal speed. Each of the twins manages one side of their conjoined bodyĪnd are quite effective in cooperatively using their limbs when bothĪble to walk, run and ride a bicycle normally - all tasks that theyĮach writes with her hand.