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News Articles: Science of Siblings

When the boys spent a year in the same school, Sam did fine, but John struggled and had some noisy meltdowns.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

How autism can look very different, even in identical twins

Sam and John Fetters, 19, are identical twins on different ends of the autism spectrum. Sam is a sophomore at Amherst College and runs marathons in his free time. John attends a school for people with special needs and loves to watch Sesame Street in his free time. Identical twins like Sam and John pose an important question for scientists: How can a disorder that is known to be highly genetic look so different in siblings who share the same genome?

Check out more of NPR's series on the Science of Siblings.

More science questions? Email us at shortwave@npr.org.

May 10, 2024
|
By:
  • Regina G. Barber,
  • Jon Hamilton,
  • and 2 more
A Nazca booby in the Galápagos Islands incubates eggs with its webbed feet.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

For birds, siblinghood can be a matter of life or death

Some birds kill their siblings soon after hatching. Other birds spend their whole lives with their siblings and will even risk their lives to help each other.

May 01, 2024
|
By:
  • Nell Greenfieldboyce

Tagged as: 

  • News

Got brothers or sisters? Warm sibling bonds help boost happiness as you age

Researchers have found that a warm, close bond with a sibling in early adult life is predictive of good emotional health later in life, with less loneliness, anxiety and depression.

April 27, 2024
|
By:
  • Allison Aubrey
Caitlynn Almance (wearing orange) poses for a portrait with family members at her parents' home in Odessa, Texas. "The bond my siblings have with each other — it's just the most beautiful bond ever," says Caitlynn, who was six months pregnant in this photo taken in early March.

Tagged as: 

  • Family

How do you get siblings to be nice to each other? Latino families have an answer

Over the past few decades, psychologists have begun to understand how parents across many cultures teach their children to build deep, fulfilling relationships with their siblings.

April 24, 2024
|
By:
  • Michaeleen Doucleff
Scholars Susan Ashbrook Harvey, left, and Robin Darling Young became 'sworn siblings' after an ancient ritual at the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.

Tagged as: 

  • News

How two good friends became sworn siblings — with the revival of an ancient ritual

Thousands of years ago, there was a ceremony to bind close friends together as sworn siblings. Could the practice be resurrected today to strengthen modern friendships? Two women did just that.

April 23, 2024
|
By:
  • Pien Huang and
  • Rhaina Cohen

Tagged as: 

  • Space

COMIC: Our sun was born with thousands of other stars. Where did they all go?

Our sun was born in a cosmic cradle with thousands of other stars. Astrophysicists say they want to find these siblings in order to help answer the question: Are we alone out there?

April 18, 2024
|
By:
  • Connie Hanzhang Jin and
  • Regina G. Barber

Tagged as: 

  • Science

Gay people often have older brothers. Why? And does it matter?

Studies worldwide show that queer people tend to have more older brothers than other kinds of siblings. Justin Torres, a queer novelist and the youngest of three brothers, asks: Should it matter?

April 16, 2024
|
By:
  • Selena Simmons-Duffin
Simone Elliot holds a childhood photo of she and her sister with their mother.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

Sisters make peace with dark memories through art, science and each other

Two sisters found they had different recollections of a traumatic childhood experience and learned that human memory is a lot less reliable than we tend to think.

April 13, 2024
|
By:
  • Gabriel Spitzer

Tagged as: 

  • Science

In the womb, a brother's hormones can shape a sister's future

When siblings share a womb, sex hormones from a male fetus can cause lasting changes in a female littermate. This effect exists for all kinds of mammals — perhaps humans too.

April 10, 2024
|
By:
  • Jon Hamilton
Zion Kelly keeps a screensaver on his phone of he and his brother as young kids.

Tagged as: 

  • Mental Health

A gunman stole his twin from him. This is what he's learned about grieving a sibling

About 60,000 children a year in the U.S. lose a sibling. Zion Kelly joined that unlucky group in 2017 when his twin, Zaire, was killed. Zion has learned a lot about grief, and himself, since then.

April 10, 2024
|
By:
  • Rhitu Chatterjee

Tagged as: 

  • News

Blended families are common. Here are tips to help stepsiblings get along

Researchers have learned a lot about blended families since the 1970s — when The Brady Bunch painted a perfect picture of stepsiblings getting along. Some of their advice might surprise you.

April 06, 2024
|
By:
  • Maria Godoy
Early in life, Sam (left) and John were much more similar than they may seem today. "They both did not wave, they didn't respond to their name, they both had a lot of repetitive movements," says their mother, Kim Leaird.

Tagged as: 

  • Science

These identical twins both grew up with autism, but took very different paths

Sam and John Fetters are identical twins with autism. But Sam is in college, while John still struggles to form sentences. Their experience may shed light on the disorder's mix of nature and nurture.

April 04, 2024
|
By:
  • Jon Hamilton
Sibling Coffee Roasters owner Libby Powell poses with her brother, Benjamin Withem, outside her West Virginia coffee shop. In her hand is an early photo of the pair — one they are trying to re-create.

Tagged as: 

  • News

At the heart of this cozy coffee shop lies a big sister's love for her little brother

Having siblings can mean shared family and childhood experiences — and also shared bedrooms and rivalries. A growing body of research shows us that sibling relationships can shape us for life.

April 02, 2024
|
By:
  • Yuki Noguchi

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