No Two Alike - The surprising variability of brothers and sisters

Abstract

I know a family where neither parent could read music or play an instrument. But that didn’t stop them from buying a piano. “With eight kids, at least one person was going to be musical,” the mother predicted. She was right: The sixth child became an avid pianist. Most of us don’t have eight children, so we might not be confronted quite as starkly with the incredible range of traits and talents that can pop up in a single family. Shrinking families have shrunk our imaginations about the sheer magnitude of genetic diversity that is lurking within our bodies.