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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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?
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
