Bewitched, bothered & bewildered: Twins, cancer, true love (not necessarily in that order)

Freshmen twins Christa and Kayley French are creating “a bright future” for their Northwestern University epee team, according to an article in The Daily Northwestern.

Even better than seeing twins excel, I just love that Northwestern University was one of the few universities that was willing to recruit both young women, rather than just pick one of them.

I’m just having a hard time imagining being a mom of two girls who made it a common practice to wield sharp metal objects at each other for sport.

Twins and higher order multiples participating in all sorts of health studies is nothing new, of course. (Read all about the importance of twin studies here on BeTwinned.) But Jess and Lisa Origliasso, 22, better known in Australia as pop stars The Veronicas, have been signing up for twin studies since they were kids, according to an article in Queensland’s The Sunday Mail.

And now they will be participating in a five-year glaucoma study.

From the article:

“Being twins, we know how important it is to learn as much as possible about our genes and this particular eye study is very important,” they told The Sunday Mail.

“The findings of these studies help twins like us to be able to deal with any gene problems that may occur in our lives.”

Glaucoma is a chronic eye condition that is hard to diagnose but leads to irreversible vision damage and blindness.

It affects more than 300,000 Australians and is growing in prevalence as the population ages and diabetes becomes more common.

Megan, Molly and Moriah Frazee, all sophomores at Liberty University in Virginia, will be featured in a documentary about women in college basketball, according to an article on the Liberty Flames’ website. The show, “Pride, Passion and Power,” will air on Sunday afternoon, Jan. 21 from 2-3 p.m. EST on CBS Sports.

Apparently, the Frazees are the only set of triplets in NCAA Division I women’s basketball. The article also says they are top scorers and rebounders for the Lady Flames.

After a flurry of articles last year about whether twins should be forced to separate in school classes, the story has resurfaced in the Concord Monitor of Concord, N.H.:

In New Hampshire, 436 people have signed a petition asking for such a law, and seven lawmakers are registered to sponsor the bill. Nicknamed the “twin bill,” the exact legislation hasn’t been finalized, but sponsors said the gist is that it would direct schools to consider parents’ wishes when deciding whether to place multiples, which is the preferred term for higher-order births, in the same classroom or in separate classrooms.

More than 3,500 twins, triplets and quads attended Twins Days, the annual twins festival in Twinsburg, Ohio.

Check out this news story, and don’t forget to watch this video too.

About TwinWatch @ BeTwinned

Identical twins Janice Morris and Caroline Satchell Morris talk about silly questions people ask twins, identical childhoods and twin pranks on NPR’s Storycorps.

About TwinWatch @ BeTwinned

The British expo The Baby Shows conducted a survey to see what people thought about the idea of having multiples. A whopping 74 percent of respondents said liked the idea!

Read the article to see why they felt this way.

About TwinWatch @ BeTwinned

Nearly 100 families attended a recent convention held by the Triplet Connection in Phoenix, Arizona.

Parents had the opportunity to talk with veteran parents and to learn parenting tips and time and money management.

If you missed the convention this year, don’t fret — check out the Triplet Connection website for information about next year’s event.

About TwinWatch @ BeTwinned

At last, I’ve seen the answer to an interesting question I’ve often wondered about. Read the first item in this Q & A from Northeastern Pennsylvania’s TimesLeader.com to see the explanation of why identical twins don’t share the same fingerprints.

I interpret this doctor’s response to mean that even though identical twins are created from identical genetic material, differences — like fingerprints — occur as that material interacts with the environment and within each individual.

About TwinWatch @ BeTwinned

The Manitoba Human Rights Commission has decided it will hear the complaints of twin Canadian teens who want to play hockey with the boys.

Check out the most recent news & video and the news from May when the story first broke.

And check out this news item about twin British teens who have qualified as soccer referrees. Be sure to scroll down the page to see the sweet picture of the girls in their uniforms.