Do you have an evil twin? Well, famous scientist and educator, Dr Neil DeGrasse Tyson, apparently has one. So what do we know about identical twins-at the very basic level we know that they have precisely the same genes.

However, how does one turn out to be good and the other evil? How is it that one is diagnosed with a disease but the other seems unaffected? In other words, how can people who are so alike, also be so unalike?

For our very first 'field trip' we visit the lab of national award winning Professor Randy Jirtle(nominee of 2007 person of the year award) for the answers-and to see what seems to be the rodent equivalent of Arnold Schwarzenegger and Danny DeVito in the movie Twins. And being to understand the WHY behind the importance of parenting-and how parents and even grandparents can determine the lives of their children and grandchildren.

Instructions: To start your virtual field trip, watch the video clip from NOVA science below. Please note that a transcript is also available for the same.

If the above link gives trouble here it is from youtube, just ignore the comments.

Answer the following questions-

1. What did you learn from the field trip about twins-do identical genes guarantee two completely identical people/rats? Answer in about 3-4 sentences(more if you need to, but this is a good guideline to follow, you aren't writing an essay, it's a discussion).

2. What lessons did you learn from Professor Jirtle's lab? Again, 3-4 sentences, general guideline.

3. Why is this important for us to know in a parenting class(hint: how, thanks to the science of epigenetics, we know that environment, diet of a mother, or even grandmother, affects later generations, the influence of parenting and home environment on children/future generations etc)?

Basically, the point is to understand the WHY and the SCIENTIFIC evidence behind parenting.