From owner-biophysics@net.bio.net Mon Jul 06 23:00:00 1998 Path: biosci!news.Stanford.EDU!su-news-feed2.bbnplanet.com!su-news-hub1.bbnplanet.com!news.bbnplanet.com!newsfeed.wli.net!news.he.net!news2.randori.com!not-for-mail Newsgroups: bionet.biophysics From: kbonelli@capecod.net (George Hammond) Subject: Are "lookalikes" genetically related?? Summary: Are "lookalikes" more related than siblings Keywords: lookalikes X-Newsreader: News Xpress Version 1.0 Beta #4 Lines: 66 Message-ID: <%Bko1.264$Xe6.344673@news2.randori.com> Date: Tue, 07 Jul 1998 08:02:03 GMT NNTP-Posting-Host: 204.255.214.66 NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 07 Jul 1998 01:02:03 PDT Posted from George Hammond July 7, 1998 email: ghammond34@hotmail.com RE: A DEAD RINGER FOR RAY CATTELL This posting contains a question about genetics in Psychology, but let me begin it with an anecdote. I was sitting in an after hours restaurant not long ago here in Hyannis MA when an unusual man walked in and took a seat at the counter. What was unusual about him is that he looked EXACTLY like Raymond B. Cattell. Same eyes, hair, nose, build, cranial structure, mouth, teeth, expression.. right down to the trim of his beard.. an absolute dead ringer for R.B. Cattell at about age 55 (Cattell is presently 90). I was stunned and mystified of course as I watched and listened to him since Cattell is kind of a singular character in appearance. He didn't know about this of course since few people outside of Psychology have ever heard of Cattell or know what he looks like (Cattell belongs to the "Vincent Price" typology sector of the upper middle class British family tree if you've never seen a picture of him). This guy was however obviously a misfit unfortunately born into lifelong financial hardship; as I overheard him say that he was a welder and lived in a $75 dollar a week room in Harwich and also worked in a leather shop because he "knew how to sew". At any rate, this encounter with Ray Cattell got me to thinking about genetics and family resemblance. The chances of this guy being related to Cattell are one in a million, since he went to Harwich high school I found out... that's not the explanation of why he looks like Cattell. I mean; obviously this guy looked more like Cattell than any of Cattell's kids (Cattell has been married 5 times and has numerous kids). I mean consider how little John F. Kennedy Jr. looks like John F. Kennedy... I practically look more like JFK than he does..! So here's the genetic question: If children are 50% genetically identical to their parents; but there are people that (far) more closely resemble them than their children, does this mean that some "lookalike" stranger is MORE CLOSELY GENETICALLY RELATED to you than your own children..? Take for instance the 20 winners in an Elvis Presley look alike contest... every one of them looks more like Elvis than any of his relatives, parents or children. Does this mean that while the DNA-DNA correlation coefficient between Elvis and his parents or kids is exactly .5.. that it may actually be .6 or .7 or .8 between him and one of these "lookalikes".. I find that ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. This is amazing, for one thing, because what it means is that if you die "childless" as many people do.. that actually you have "genetic survivors" out there that are related to you EVEN MORE CLOSELY THAN ANY OF YOUR NONEXISTENT KIDS WOULD HAVE BEEN...!! Good Lord... is this true? What about all that talk about the "end of the family line" if you don't have any kids.. according to this analysis such a thing is impossible...? Now, another question. Isn't this a case of "convergent heredity". I mean, if A marries B and has a child, .5(A+B), and then marries C and has a child, .5(A+C), then if the two kids get married.. isn't it possible that they could have a .5(A+A) kid which would then be an identical CLONE of A ...!!! Isn't this essentially how you get 20 Elvis lookalikes in North America.. none of whom are related..! If anyone on this list knows ANYTHING about genetics, I would appreciate an answer to the question of whether a "lookalike" stranger can possibly be "more genetically related to you than your actual family members"; by actual DNA comparison. This question obviously has consequences for Psychology; particularly my psychology. George Hammond .