FLICKR, JOELLE INGE-MESSERSCHMIDT
New research shows that a genetic propensity for multiples could result in heavier single babies, which tend to be healthier and more likely to survive, according to a study published Tuesday (August 9) in Biology Letters, possibly explaining why some women have twins, despite the inherent dangers involved.
Bearing two babies at once is risky business—they are often smaller and weaker than single babies, and there’s a greater chance that either the mother or the babies, or both, will not survive. So the fact that some people have twins has long stumped scientists. To see if he could find an answer, evolutionary biologist Ian Rickard of the University of Sheffield in the United Kingdom mined a unique data set of 50 years’ worth of medical ...
