Mythology in Medicine

I saw a cool thing on the Discovery Health Channel last night -- it was a show called "I am My Own Twin:" it was about a disease called Chimerism, which is when two fertilized embryos fuse into one embryo. What does that mean? That a person can have two separate sets of DNA in their body -- for example, in some hairs, they could have their own DNA, but in some of their other hairs, they could have their "twin's" DNA. This caused major problems for people because they had never heard of people having two totally different sets of DNA. In one case, a woman was accused of not being the mother of her children, but then they tested the babies' DNA and compared it to her siblings' DNA, and it seemed as if the babies had DNA from the woman's husband and the woman's brother! OBVIOUSLY that was impossible, but that proved that she had a second set of DNA in her body, which should have been a separate person. They do not know why these embryos fused to become one, but it happens!

Anyway, how is this connected to Latin? Look at the name, Chimerism: people who have this disorder are called Chimeras, like the mythological monster that had the tail of a snake, the body of a goat, and the head of a lion. Isn't that so cool?! It is just like the people -- part of them is one person, and another part is another person!

This dorky moment brought to you by Magistra Enscoe... :)