I usually don’t frequent the site, Unbounded Medicine, as I’m a bit too squeamish for most of the posts. But, I was there today to look up some information for one of my writing jobs when I discovered this post.
Kylie Hodgson gave birth to twin daughters by cesarean section, and that’s when she discovered that one girl was black and the other was white. This conception happened after two eggs were fertilized at the same time in the womb. While this occurrence is uncommon, the odds against it happening are incredible. According to the site:
Skin color is believed to be determined by up to seven different genes working together. For a mixed-race couple, the odds of either of these scenarios is around 100 to one. But both scenarios can occur at the same time if the woman conceives non-identical twins, another 100 to one chance.
This involves two eggs being fertilized by two sperm at the same time, which also has odds of around 100 to one.
If a sperm containing all-white genes fuses with a similar egg and a sperm coding for purely black skin fuses with a similar egg, two babies of dramatically different colors will be born.
The odds of this happening are 100 x 100 x 100 - a million to one.
If you want more amazing but true medical stories, visit Unbounded Medicine. This site is fanatical about their quest for the odd and unusual.
Posted by Linda at 8:00 AM PDT
