![Sign showing twin towns of Pápa, Hungary. The earliest form of town twinning in Europe was between the German city of Paderborn and the French city of Le Mans in 836.[3] Keighley, West Yorkshire, England had a](http://web.archive.org./web/20110505161843im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/1f/9f/2bc2445db170c7c9b7e12f9f2111_grande.jpg "Sign showing twin towns of Pápa, Hungary. The earliest form of town twinning in Europe was between the German city of Paderborn and the French city of Le Mans in 836.[3] Keighley, West Yorkshire, England had a")
![Sign showing twin towns of Saint Sylvain d'Anjou, France. The earliest form of town twinning in Europe was between the German city of Paderborn and the French city of Le Mans in 836.[3] Keighley, West Yorkshire, England had a](http://web.archive.org./web/20110505161843im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/b7/f0/ec6d1c205faf81c1e78009c7a69d_grande.jpg "Sign showing twin towns of Saint Sylvain d'Anjou, France. The earliest form of town twinning in Europe was between the German city of Paderborn and the French city of Le Mans in 836.[3] Keighley, West Yorkshire, England had a")
In contrast, a fetus which develops alone in the womb is called a singleton, and the general term for one offspring of a multiple birth is multiple. It is theoretically possible for two singletons to be identical if all 23 chromosomes in both gametes from the mother and father were to be exact matches from one birth to the next. While this is statistically improbable (less than one in one billion-billion-billion chance) under natural conditions, a controlled pairing may someday be possible. A less complex way to engineer genetically identical offspring is through the process of cloning, a procedure that has successfully been accomplished with several species of mammals.
The twin birth rate in the United States is slightly above 32 twin live births per 1,000 live births, while the Yoruba have the highest rate of twinning in the world, at 45 twins per 1,000 live births, possibly because of high consumption of a specific type of yam containing a natural phytoestrogen which may stimulate the ovaries to release an egg from each side.
Due to the limited size of the mother's womb, multiple pregnancies are much less likely to carry to full term than single births, with twin pregnancies lasting only 37 weeks (3 weeks less than full term) on average.
Among non-twin births, male singletons are slightly (about five percent) more common than female singletons. The rates for singletons vary slightly by country. For example, the sex ratio of birth in the US is 1.05 males/female, while it is 1.07 males/female in Italy. However, males are also more susceptible than females to death in utero, and since the death rate in utero is higher for twins, it leads to female twins being more common than male twins.
Fraternal twins, like any other siblings, have an extremely small chance of having the same chromosome profile. Like any other siblings, fraternal twins may look similar, particularly given that they are the same age. However, fraternal twins may also look very different from each other. They may be of different sexes or the same sex. The same holds true for brothers and sisters from the same parents, meaning that fraternal twins are simply brothers and/or sisters who happen to be the same age.
Studies show that there is a genetic basis for fraternal twinning. However, it is only their mother that has any effect on the chances of having fraternal twins; there is no known mechanism for a father to cause the release of more than one ovum. Dizygotic twinning ranges from six per thousand births in Japan (similar to the rate of monozygotic twins) to 14 and more per thousand in some African countries.
Fraternal twins are also more common for older mothers, with twinning rates doubling in mothers over the age of 35. With the advent of technologies and techniques to assist women in getting pregnant, the rate of fraternals has increased markedly. For example, in New York City's Upper East Side there were 3,707 twin births in 1995; there were 4,153 in 2003; and there were 4,655 in 2004. Triplet births have also risen, from 60 in 1995 to 299 in 2004.
===Identical (monozygotic) twins=== but have separate amniotic sacs. In 18–30% of identical twins each fetus has a separate placenta and a separate amniotic sac. A small number (1–2%) of identical twins share the same placenta and amniotic sac. Fraternal twins each have their own placenta and own amniotic sac.]] Identical or monozygotic (MZ) twins occur when a single egg is fertilized to form one zygote (hence, "monozygotic") which then divides into two separate embryos.
There are an estimated 10 million identical twins and triplets in the world today.
The likelihood of a single fertilization resulting in identical twins is uniformly distributed in all populations around the world. and up to 24 in the US, which might mainly be due to IVF (in vitro fertilization). The exact cause for the splitting of a zygote or embryo is unknown.
In-vitro fertilization techniques are more likely to create twins. Only about three pairs of twins per 1,000 deliveries occur as a result of natural conception, while for IVF deliveries, there are nearly 21 pairs of twins for every 1,000.
Identical twins actually have only nearly identical DNA, and differing environmental influences throughout their lives affect which genes are switched on or off. This is called epigenetic modification. A study of 80 pairs of human twins ranging in age from three to 74 showed that the youngest twins have relatively few epigenetic differences. The number of epigenetic differences between identical twins increases with age. Fifty-year-old twins had over three times the epigenetic difference of three-year-old twins. Twins who had spent their lives apart (such as those adopted by two different sets of parents at birth) had the greatest difference. However, certain characteristics become more alike as twins age, such as IQ and personality. This phenomenon illustrates the influence of genetics in many aspects of human characteristics and behavior.
Identical twins look alike, although they do not have the same fingerprints (which are environmental as well as genetic). As they mature, identical twins often become less alike because of lifestyle choices or external influences. The children of identical twins would test genetically as half-siblings rather than first cousins.
This situation is not the same as the common form of fraternal twinning, in which two genetically different ova are fertilized by two genetically different sperm. In this case, the ova are genetically identical.
The degree of separation of the twins in utero depends on if and when they split into two zygotes. Dizygotic twins were always two zygotes. Monozygotic twins split into two zygotes at some time very early in the pregnancy. The timing of this separation determines the chorionicity and amniocity (the number of sacs) of the pregnancy. Dichorionic twins either never divided (i.e.: were dizygotic) or they divided within the first 4 days. Monoamnionic twins divide after the first week.
In very rare cases, twins become conjoined twins. Furthermore, there can be various degrees of shared environment of twins in the womb, potentially leading to pregnancy complications.
It is a common misconception that two placentas means twins are dizygotic (non-identical). But if monozygotic twins separate early enough, the arrangement of sacs and placentas in utero is indistinguishable from dizygotic twins.
{| class="wikitable" |- ! Type ! Description ! Day |- | Dichorionic-Diamniotic | Normally, twins have two separate (di- being a numerical prefix for two) chorions and amniotic sacs, termed Dichorionic-Diamniotic or "DiDi". It occurs in almost all cases of dizygotic twins (except in very rare cases of fusion between their blastocysts and in 18–36% (or around 25%) of monozygotic (identical) twins.
DiDi twins have the lowest mortality risk at about 9 percent, although that is still significantly higher than that of singletons. | Dichorionic-Diamniotic twins form when splitting takes place by the third day after fertilization.
The survival rate for monoamniotic twins is somewhere between 50%
Consequently, if twins are monoamniotic that means that the two babies will be sharing a placenta and as a result, due to the small capacity of sharing a sac, the umbilical cord has an increased chance of being tangled around the babies. Because of this, there is an increased chance that the newborns may be miscarried or suffer from cerebral palsy due to the lack of oxygen. | Monoamniotic twins occur when the split takes place after the ninth day after fertilization.
From 1980–97, the number of twin births in the United States rose 52%. This rise can at least partly be attributed to the increasing popularity of fertility drugs like Clomid and procedures such as in vitro fertilization, which result in multiple births more frequently than unassisted fertilizations do. It may also be linked to the increase of growth hormones in food. The rate of dizygotic twinning varies greatly among ethnic groups, ranging as high as about 45 per 1000 births for the Yoruba to 10% for Linha São Pedro, a tiny Brazilian settlement which belongs to the city of Cândido Godói. In Cândido Godói, one in five pregnancies have resulted in twins. The Argentine historian Jorge Camarasa has put forward a theory that experiments of the Nazi doctor Josef Mengele could be responsible for the high ratio of twins in the area. His theory was rejected by Brazilian scientists who had studied twins living in Linha São Pedro; they suggested genetic factors within that community as a more likely explanation. A high twinning rate has also been observed in other places of the world, including Igbo-Ora in Nigeria and Kodinji in India.
The widespread use of fertility drugs causing hyperovulation (stimulated release of multiple eggs by the mother) has caused what some call an "epidemic of multiple births". In 2001, for the first time ever in the US, the twinning rate exceeded 3% of all births. Nevertheless, the rate of monozygotic twins remains at about 1 in 333 across the globe.
In a study on the maternity records of 5750 Hausa women living in the Savannah zone of Nigeria, there were 40 twins and 2 triplets per 1000 births. Twenty-six per cent of twins were monozygous. The incidence of multiple births, which was about five times higher than that observed in any western population, was significantly lower than that of other ethnic groups, who live in the hot and humid climate of the southern part of the country. The incidence of multiple births was related to maternal age but did not bear any association to the climate or prevalence of malaria.
Dizygotic twin pregnancies are slightly more likely when the following factors are present in the woman:
Women undergoing certain fertility treatments may have a greater chance of dizygotic multiple births. This can vary depending on what types of fertility treatments are used. With in vitro fertilization (IVF), this is primarily due to the insertion of multiple embryos into the uterus. Some other treatments such as the drug Clomid can stimulate a woman to release multiple eggs, increasing the likelihood of multiples.
:*Within 15 minutes: 75.8% :*16-30 minutes: 16.4% :*31-45 minutes: 4.3% :*46-60 minutes: 1.7% :*Over 60 minutes: 1.8% (72 instances)
The study stated that the occurrence of complications "was found to be more likely with increasing twin-to-twin delivery time interval" and suggested that the interval be kept short, though it noted that the study did not examine causes of complications and did not control for factors such as the level of experience of the obstetrician, the wish of the women giving birth, or the "management strategies" of the procedure of delivering the second twin.
Researchers suspect that as many as 1 in 8 pregnancies start out as multiples, but only a single fetus is brought to full term, because the other has died very early in the pregnancy and has not been detected or recorded. Early obstetric ultrasonography exams sometimes reveal an "extra" fetus, which fails to develop and instead disintegrates and vanishes. This is known as vanishing twin syndrome.
, born in Siam (now Thailand) in 1811, were the origin of the term "Siamese twins".]]
Conjoined twins (or the deprecated term "Siamese twins") are monozygotic twins whose bodies are joined together during pregnancy. This occurs where the single zygote of MZ twins fails to separate completely, and the zygote starts to split after day 12
Heterotopic pregnancy is an exceedingly rare type of dizygotic twinning in which one twin implants in the uterus as normal and the other remains in the fallopian tube as an ectopic pregnancy. Ectopic pregnancies must be resolved because they can be life-threatening to the mother. However, in most cases, the intrauterine pregnancy can be salvaged.
Among monozygotic twins, in extremely rare cases, twins have been born with opposite sexes (one male, one female). The probability of this is so vanishingly small (only 3 documented cases) that multiples having different sexes is universally accepted as a sound basis for a clinical determination that in utero multiples are not monozygotic. When monozygotic twins are born with different sexes it is because of chromosomal birth defects. In this case, although the twins did come from the same egg, it is incorrect to refer to them as genetically identical, since they have different karyotypes.
Monozygotic twins can develop differently, due to different genes being activated. More unusual are "semi-identical twins". These "half-identical twins" are hypothesized to occur when an unfertilized egg cleaves into two identical attached ova and which are viable for fertilization. Both cloned ova are then fertilized by different sperm and the coalesced eggs undergo further cell duplications developing as a chimeric blastomere. If this blastomere then undergoes a twinning event, two embryos will be formed, each of which have different paternal genes and identical maternal genes.
This results in a set of twins with identical genes from the mother's side, but different genes from the father's side. Cells in each fetus carry genes from either sperm, resulting in chimeras. This form had been speculated until only recently being recorded in western medicine.
breed]]
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| Name | Aphex Twin |
|---|---|
| Landscape | yes |
| Background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth name | Richard David James |
| Alias | AFX, Blue Calx, Bradley Strider, Caustic Window, DJ Smojphace, GAK, Martin Tressider, Polygon Window, Power-Pill, Prichard D. Jams, Q-Chastic, Tahnaiya Russell, The Dice Man, Soit P.P., The Tuss (speculated) |
| Born | August 18, 1971 Limerick, Ireland |
| Origin | Lanner, Cornwall, United Kingdom |
| Instrument | Synthesizer, electronics, laptop, Softsynth, drum machine, computer, sampler, piano |
| Genre | Electronic music |
| Occupation | Disc jockey, musician, composer, remixer |
| Years active | 1985-present |
| Label | Rephlex, Warp, R&S;, Sire, Mighty Force, Rabbit City, Men |
| Associated acts | Universal Indicator, Mike & Rich |
Richard David James (born 18 August 1971), best known under the pseudonym Aphex Twin, is an electronic musician described by The Guardian newspaper in 2001 as "the most inventive and influential figure in contemporary electronic music." He founded the record label Rephlex Records in 1991 with Grant Wilson-Claridge.
According to musician Benjamin Middleton, James started producing music at the age of 12. As a teenager he was a disc jockey at Shire Horse in St Ives, with Tom Middleton at the Bowgie Inn in Crantock, and also along the numerous beaches around Cornwall. James studied for a National Diploma in Engineering from 1988 to 1990 (aged 16 to 18) at Cornwall College. When talking about his studies, James has said that "music and electronics went hand in hand." James graduated from college; according to an engineering lecturer, however, he often had his headphones on during practical lessons, "no doubt thinking through the mixes he'd be working on later".
James' first release was the 12-inch EP Analogue Bubblebath on Mighty Force Records in 1991. It was first released under the moniker Aphex Twin, later changed to AFX. The track "En Trance to Exit" was made in collaboration with Tom Middleton, also known as Schizophrenia. The EP got on the playlist of Kiss FM, an influential London radio station, which helped the release to become a success.
In 1991, James and Wilson-Claridge founded Rephlex Records to promote "innovation in the dynamics of Acid — a much-loved and -misunderstood genre of house music forgotten by some and indeed new to others, especially in Britain."
Between 1991 and 1993, James released two Analogue Bubblebath EPs as AFX, and an EP under Bradley Strider, Bradley's Beat. James moved to London to take an electronics course at Kingston Polytechnic, but at the time admitted to David Toop that his "electronics studies were already slipping away as a career in the techno business took precedence." After quitting his course, James remained in London and released a number of albums and EPs on Warp Records and other labels under many aliases including AFX, Polygon Window, and Power-Pill. A number of James' tracks (released under the aliases Blue Calx, The Dice Man, and others) appeared on various compilations. Local legend has it that James lived on the roundabout in Elephant and Castle, South London during his early years in the capital - in fact he lived in a nearby disused bank.
The first full-length Aphex Twin album, Selected Ambient Works 85–92, was released in 1992 on R&S; Records. It received high ratings and praise from critics. John Bush of Allmusic described it as a "watershed of ambient music". In 2002, Rolling Stone wrote of the album: "Aphex Twin expanded way beyond the ambient music of Brian Eno by fusing lush soundscapes with oceanic beats and bass lines." Pitchfork Media's review called it, "among the most interesting music ever created with a keyboard and a computer." Critics also noted that the songs were recorded on cassette and that the sound quality was "relatively poor".
In 1992, he also released the EPs Xylem Tube EP and Digeridoo (first played by DJ Colin Faver on London's Kiss FM) as Aphex Twin, as Power-Pill the Pac-Man EP based on the arcade game Pac-Man, and two of his four Caustic Window EPs. "Digeridoo" reached #55 in the UK Singles Chart, and was later described as foreshadowing drum and bass by Rolling Stone. "Digeridoo" was recorded initially for the benefit of FIZZ-BOMB (at the Shire Horse, St Ives, Cornwall). These early releases came out on Rephlex Records, Mighty Force of Exeter, and R&S; Records of Belgium.
In 1993, James released Analogue Bubblebath 3. He also released a single titled "On"; his second Bradley Strider EP, Bradley's Robot; two more Caustic Window EPs; and his first releases on Warp Records, Surfing on Sine Waves and "Quoth" under the alias Polygon Window.
Warp Records pressed and released a follow-up to Selected Ambient Works 85-92, Selected Ambient Works Volume II in 1994. The sound was much less beat and melody-driven than the previous volume. All of the track names were described with pie chart symbols, each of which was meant to be paired with a corresponding image in the album jacket, with exception for one song, which was named "Blue Calx". To decipher song titles, listeners had to compare the length of each track with the size of each pie chart symbol. For example, the first title, which is often labelled cliffs, is realised by pairing the first symbol with the first image, which is that of a rocky cliffside. James claimed in The Wire magazine and other media that these songs were inspired by lucid dreams and synaesthesia. Other releases are a fourth Analogue Bubblebath; GAK, derived from early demos sent to Warp Records; and Classics, a compilation album that includes "Digeridoo" and the Xylem Tube EP.
For his 1995 release, ...I Care Because You Do, James used an image of his face for the album cover, a motif that would continue on many of his later records. The album was a compilation of songs composed between 1990 and 1994 and represented a mish-mash of Aphex Twin's various music styles. This was James's last record of the 1990s to use mostly analogue synthesizers. He commissioned Western classical-music composer Philip Glass to create an orchestral version of one of the songs from this album, "Icct Hedral", which appeared on the Donkey Rhubarb EP.
James's early adoption of software synthesizers predated the later popularity of using computers to make music. In the mid-to-late 1990s, his music became more popular and mainstream, as he released Richard D. James Album and Expert Knob Twiddlers (a collaboration with fellow dance producer µ-ziq) in 1996, "Come to Daddy" in 1997 (#36 on UK charts) and "Windowlicker" in 1999 (#16 on UK charts). Two pop songs that heavily use Digital Signal Processing (DSP) techniques, "Come to Daddy" and "Windowlicker" were shown on MTV and became cover features for music magazines such as NME. The videos for both singles were directed by British artist Chris Cunningham and caused controversy on release because of their disturbing images and themes.
In 1998, Aphex Twin's track "[rhubarb]" (from Selected Ambient Works Volume II) appeared as part of the BBC's digital widescreen test transmission, which was on loop for many months as the service was introduced across the UK.
James was meticulous about the whole process of recording, mastering, and pressing. James has said Rephlex Records was strict on quality control, trying out various pressing-plant companies until they felt it sounded perfect. To James's ears, vinyl or tape is better than digital, as no two copies are the same. However, label co-owner Grant Wilson-Claridge convinced James to release a CD compilation, Chosen Lords, which included 10 selected tracks from the Analord series. For the Analord series James used his collection of vintage synthesizer and drum machines, some of which were quite rare by that time. Some of the record inserts have pictures of rare synthesizers like the Synton Fenix, and the notoriously difficult-to-program Roland MC-4 sequencer (a sequencer with a reputation for excellent timing), as well as the legendary Roland TB-303.
Media reports indicate Aphex Twin is now recording under The Tuss. Rephlex Records has denied that Aphex Twin is The Tuss, but Aphex Twin fans and the media have ignored Rephlex's denial and The Tuss is treated as yet another Aphex Twin project.
In March 2009 Steve Beckett of Warp Records announced a new album for a possible release. As of November 2010, no new album was released, however, 20 more tracks were added to the Analord series in December 2009, only available through download from the Rephlex Records website.
In an October 2010 interview with British magazine Another Man, James stated that he had completed 6 albums, one of which was a remake of the unreleased Melodies from Mars, originally produced around the time of Richard D. James Album.
On November 16, 2010, Warp Records announced Aphex Twin, along with LFO, Moderat and others, will be headlining Bloc Weekend 2011 that will take place in Minehead, Somerset, UK, March 11-13. The same announcement included a video called "Seaside Specials video by Weirdcore with music taken from a recent Aphex DJ show".
James has used his own photography for some of his releases, such as the elaborate album sleeve for Selected Ambient Works Volume II.
Braindance applies to forward-thinking electronic music that can appeal to the mind as well as the desire to dance and party. Examples including Ed-DMX's Breakin' records label, µ-ziq's Planet-mu label, the Aphex Twin EP Come to Daddy and Astrobotnia Parts 1, 2 & 3.
In acknowledgment of another influence, James released Music from the BBC Radiophonic Workshop, a compilation of music recorded by the pioneers of BBC Radiophonic Workshop, which included artists such as Delia Derbyshire, on his own label, Rephlex Records.
Many songs include sounds from and references to the ZX Spectrum. For instance, "Carn Marth" from Richard D. James Album includes the tape-loading noise of the game Sabre Wulf.
When Rephlex staple and musical collaborator Mike (Mike & Rich) Paradinas was asked "'No one says IDM in England?" he answered: "'No, only on message boards when they're talking to Americans!" "No one uses or used it in UK. Only Americans ever used the term. It was invented by Alan Parry who set up the IDM mailing list'."
In the UK, Aphex Twin's music is normally referred to as electronic music due to Aphex Twin's influence coming from electronic musicians such as Parmegiani and his study of electronic engineering in technical college. The official genre name from Rephlex Records is Braindance. Aphex Twin refers to his own breakbeat tracks as breakbeat, jungle, or drum and bass interchangeably. Other genres that he indulges in include acid, ambient, ambient techno, noise, and many more. Rephlex artist Luke Vibert, when presented with the suggestion that he invented a genre called drill 'n bass, replied "What the fuck is drill n' bass?"
During an interview with Future Music, Richard said he likes using Ableton Live but prefers Liveslice for beat editing/stretching. Asked what equipment did use, he responded "Raveolution 309, the Raven Max, MC-909 limited edition, Quasimidi Van Helden, MAM Freebass 383, Roland DJ-70, E-15, SP-808, Akai S3200, Behringer MX602A and all the Behringer effects that copy other things."
In an interview with Japan's Snoozer magazine in 2001, James stated that his favorite instruments were his piano, laptop computer, and the Synton Fenix.
In one of his older interviews in the nineties, Richard said he used Pro Tools and "stuff like that", though he is known to have used Cubase around the time of the "Richard D James" album. In the same interview, he reveals that he has "homemade" equipment which covered software programs written by himself and synthesisers and various hardware devices he built when he was younger.
Richard D. James studied electronics in Cornwall College and Kingston Polytechnic in London. He built his own synthesizers and samplers in his early years, he has also modified and circuit bent his equipment. James also programmed his personal music software algorithm.
He lives in southeast London in a converted bank, which was formerly the Bank of Cyprus and then HSBC. Contrary to popular opinion, however, he does not own the silver structure in the centre of the roundabout at Elephant and Castle. This is, in fact, the Michael Faraday Memorial, containing a power transformer for the Northern Line, which James jokingly claimed to be buying in an interview with The Face magazine in 2001.
Stockhausen commented:
Aphex Twin responded: "I thought he should listen to a couple of tracks of mine: "Digeridoo", then he'd stop making abstract, random patterns you can't dance to".
When I was 11, I won 50 pounds in a competition for writing this program that made sound on a ZX81. You couldn't make sound on a ZX81, but I played around with machine code and found some codes that retuned the TV signal so that it made this really weird noise when you turned the volume up.
By displaying patterns that induced excessive sidebands in the video signal, the lower sideband was forced to spill over into the audio portion of the TV signal's spectrum. While the ZX81 was designed to filter the lower sideband of the video signal out, its simple circuitry did not remove all of it, and James' software was supposedly able to overcome the filtering.
Category:1971 births Category:Ambient musicians Category:Braindance musicians Category:British electronic musicians Category:British experimental musicians Category:British techno musicians Category:English people of Welsh descent Category:Intelligent dance music musicians Category:Living people Category:People from Cornwall Category:People from County Limerick Category:Sire Records artists Category:Remixers Category:Warp Records artists Category:People with synesthesia
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| Name | Abigail and Brittany Hensel |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Abigail Loraine Hensel |
| Birth date | March 07, 1990 |
| Birth place | Carver County, Minnesota |
| Residence | St. Paul, Minnesota, USA. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Lutheran High School in Mayer, Minnesota |
| Home town | New Germany, Minnesota, USA |
| Parents | Patty and Mike Hensel |
| Relatives | Dakota (Brother) |
| Website |
Each twin controls half their body, operating one of the arms and one of the legs. This means that as infants, the initial learning of physical processes that required bodily coordination, such as clapping, crawling, and walking required the cooperation of both children. While each is able to eat and write separately and simultaneously, activities such as running and swimming must be coordinated and alternate symmetrically. Other activities as diverse as brushing hair and driving a car require that each twin perform a sequence of quite separate actions that coordinate with the other. Abigail and Brittany are notable both for their rare physiology and for the many successes that they have achieved in overcoming this physical challenge in their individual and corporate lives.
Despite the curiosity that their condition has generated, the Hensel twins have managed to live private lives with relatively little press attention. At the age of sixteen, they gave an interview on The Learning Channel on December 17, 2006, in which they discussed aspects of their daily lives and plans for the future.
Abigail's head tilts laterally outward about 5 degrees to the right while Brittany's head tilts laterally at about 15 degrees to the left, causing Brittany to appear to be slightly the shorter. At age 12, they underwent surgery at Gillette Children's Specialty Healthcare to correct scoliosis and to expand their chest cavity to prevent future difficulties with breathing.
Each of the twins manages one side of their conjoined body. The sense of touch of each is restricted to her body half; this shades off at the midsagittal plane such that there is a small amount of overlap at the midline. They are effective in cooperatively using their limbs when both hands or both legs are required. By coordinating their efforts, they are able to walk, run, swim and ride a bicycle normally — all tasks that they learned at a normal speed. Together, they can type on a computer keyboard at a normal speed and drive a car.
They both graduated from high school in 2008. They began college at Bethel University in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
In conversation, the twins are clearly distinct persons, with distinct likes and dislikes. Their preferences in food, clothing color, etc. differ. Some of their clothes are altered by their seamstress so that they have two separate necklines in order to emphasize their individuality. They will usually have separate meals, but sometimes will share a single meal for the sake of convenience (e.g., each takes a bite of the same hamburger). Abigail is better at mathematics and Brittany is better at writing. For tasks such as responding to e-mail, they type and respond as one, anticipating each other's feelings with little verbal communication between them. In such cases as the latter, their choice of grammatical person is to use the first person singular out of habit when they agree, but when their responses do differ, they use their names in the third person singular.
There is some concern about their ability to have continued good health because only four known sets of conjoined twins who share an undivided torso and two legs have ever survived into adulthood, and most have congenital heart defects or other organ anomalies. None have shown up in the Hensels' case. They have so far had no desire to make themselves available for any medical studies. They intend to make a rather limited number of media appearances in the future, primarily just to appease the world's curiosity and to reduce the number of people who might otherwise be taken aback by their unusual body configuration. They intensely dislike being stared at or photographed by strangers while going about their private lives. They expect to date, get married, and have children. They hope that by providing some information about themselves they will be able to lead otherwise fairly typical social lives as together they continue to make new friends.
Category:1990 births Category:Articles about multiple people Category:Conjoined twins Category:Living people Category:People from Carver County, Minnesota Category:Twin people from the United States
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![Sign showing twin towns of Pápa, Hungary. The earliest form of town twinning in Europe was between the German city of Paderborn and the French city of Le Mans in 836.[3] Keighley, West Yorkshire, England had a](http://web.archive.org./web/20110505161843im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/1f/9f/2bc2445db170c7c9b7e12f9f2111_thumb.jpg "Sign showing twin towns of Pápa, Hungary. The earliest form of town twinning in Europe was between the German city of Paderborn and the French city of Le Mans in 836.[3] Keighley, West Yorkshire, England had a")
![Sign showing twin towns of Saint Sylvain d'Anjou, France. The earliest form of town twinning in Europe was between the German city of Paderborn and the French city of Le Mans in 836.[3] Keighley, West Yorkshire, England had a](http://web.archive.org./web/20110505161843im_/http://cdn.wn.com/pd/b7/f0/ec6d1c205faf81c1e78009c7a69d_thumb.jpg "Sign showing twin towns of Saint Sylvain d'Anjou, France. The earliest form of town twinning in Europe was between the German city of Paderborn and the French city of Le Mans in 836.[3] Keighley, West Yorkshire, England had a")
