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PAIR-ADISE
For parents expecting a baby, finding out that they’re having twins can be both a joy and a financial burden. And no one knows that feeling better than the residents of a village called Kodinji in Northern India, also known as “Twin Village.” The town is home to nearly 250 sets of twins…out of only 2,000 families, giving it, by far, the highest ratio of twin births in the world—six times the global average. But why? A local group called TAKA (Twins and Kins Association) is trying to figure out what’s going on.
No one knows for sure why Kodinji has become the twin capital of the world. “It’s an amazing phenomenon. The people are not exposed to any kinds of harmful drugs or chemicals,” said Dr. Krishnan Sribiju, who’s working with TAKA to study the village. The locals don’t eat a special diet, either. And genetic causes seem unlikely, since people who grew up elsewhere and move there as adults are also more likely to have twins. But many women raised in Kodinji who then moved to other places have continued to have multiple births.
So with all of the usual suspects of twin-making ruled out, there is one prevailing theory: It’s the water. Kodinji is almost surrounded by it, and during monsoon season, the village is often completely cut off. But so far, tests of the water supply have proven inconclusive.
It appears, though, that scientists will have plenty of time to study the phenomenon—because the twin birth rate in Kodinji is actually rising. As of early 2010, five more women in the village were pregnant with twins. “The more the merrier,” says Bushara Mohammed Kutty, the mother of a set of twins and a set of triplets. She then adds, “provided you have the wherewithal.”
Fastest-growing language in the galaxy, according to Time magazine: Klingon.