The researchers used ultrasound recorders to make three-dimensional videos of five pairs of twins, once at 14 weeks and again at 18 weeks. By the 14th week, they were already reaching for each other. This was even more pronounced by the 18th week, when fetuses touched each other more often than themselves.
Though some contact is inevitable between two growing bodies sharing a confined space, kinematic analysis showed that fetuses used distinct gestures when touching each other, rather than touching themselves or uterine walls. Their hands lingered.
“Performance of movements towards the twin is not accidental,” wrote the researchers. Their findings were published Oct. 7 in Public Library of Science One.
Dear readers, I am getting over a really bad stomach bug. I think the worst of it is over, but I fear I will be recovering for the next two or three days at least. I have blog posts scheduled to publish, so you will have new material every day.
