Blood Is Thicker Than Water - DNA Series Part 1

Growing up, my brother and I (like many other siblings I expect) used to get into quite a few skirmishes which, at the time, could sometimes seem quite big (I would go upstairs and slam my bedroom door repeatedly and vow never to speak to him again).

Well, on such occasions, my dad would often talk to both my brother and me, saying that we needed to care for each other for, when he and mom were gone, we would be all we got. And that what kept us linked was stronger than anything else, stronger than what we’d have for our respective spouses.

Yes, my brother and I have mended, about a million times by now. But I wonder whether, apart from growing up with each other, perhaps my father’s words did have a deeper meaning than at first believed, one that is etched into our very own genetic code. . .

We’ve all heard those stories of identical twins living separately who ended up having very similar lives in the end (sometimes even having the same sorts of things happen to them in the same year and ending up with wives with the same first name!). Could this be a “subtle” sign of how our blood really does link people of the same family together?

Here’s an experiment recounted in The Divine Matrix by Gregg Braden that has interesting possibilities, if true:

“In a 1993 study reported in the journal Advances, the Army performed experiments to determine precisely whether the emotion/DNA connection continues following a separate, and if so, at what distances? The researchers started by collecting a swab of tissue and DNA from the inside of a volunteer’s mouth. This sample was isolated and taken to another room in the same building. . . . In a specially designed chamber, the DNA was measured electrically to see if it responded to the emotions of the person it came from, the donor who was in another room several hundred feet away.
In this room, the subject was shown a series of video images. . . . While he was doing so, in another room his DNA was measured for its response.
When the donor experienced emotional “peaks” and “dips,” his cells and DNA showed a powerful electrical response at the same instant in time. Although distances measured in hundreds of feet separated the donor and the samples, the DNA acted as if it was still physically connected to his body.”

Isn’t that insane? I have to say that, ever since I’ve read this, I’ve felt really guilty about all the hair and dry cells I’ve left all over the place since being born. I mean, what if I’ve made someone really upset one day ‘cause I was pissed off about something and he/she ended up stepping on my lonely strand of hair at the same time and ended up getting all pissed off too?

Anyways, the author goes on to wonder whether this effect could explain why some people have been said to change personalities after an organ transplant that can be traced all the way to the donor. So wouldn’t it be the same for identical twins and, to some extent, siblings who share the same parents and, thereby, the same “blood?”

--Alessa

PS: Here's an awesome picture of a nebula that looks like a DNA strand.

You can find the National Geographic article about this nebula here.

Links of interest:
Some heart recipients report strange changes article.