Doppelgangers don’t just look alike, they’re identical, scientists have discovered, after an in-depth study of the genetics and behavior of unrelated people who share uncanny facial similarities. The researchers recruited 16 pairs of doppelgängers from the photographic work of François Brunelle, a Canadian artist who has been collecting photographs of unrelated conspecifics since 1999. Participants were given a detailed questionnaire that asked about factors from education and smoking habits to height, weight, exercise, coffee consumption, alcohol consumption, marital status, employment and even whether they had pets. These results showed that there was a strong correlation between people who resembled their lifestyle and behavioral characteristics. And when they checked their genetic profiles, the team also found that people who looked alike had similar DNA. The couples were found to share 20,000 genetic variants with each other, related to the shape and characteristics of the mouth, lips, eyes, eyebrows, nose, skull and bone structure, skin texture, body fat retention fat and fluids, and even personality traits such as smoking addiction.
