The Race Is On

Way back in my college days at a large state university, one had to have a science requirement in order to graduate. The one class everyone took was a class on human genetics taught by one of those "far out" liberal professors. I even remember his name - Val Woodward. There were over 1000 students in the class I took. It was popular not because of the subject, but because if you showed up, you got a C. I actually tried to do a bit better than a C - and did. Every day, Professor Woodward would remind people that there are no significant genetic differences between black people and white people - just their skin color. He even bristled at the use of the term "race". It was a good class if one paid attention. Not only did one learn about genetics - Gregor Mendel and his peas - but one learned about humanity.

I was reminded of Professor Woodward's class when I recently read an article about a couple in England that recently gave birth to twins. The father is black and the mother is white. One of the twins has dark skin and the other has light skin. Amazingly, this is the second set of twins for the couple. The first set also includes one twin with dark skin and another with light skin. Pretty much everything with both sets of twins is genetically similar - with the exception of skin pigmentation. To see an article on the twins from AOL News, go to: http://news.aol.com/article/twins-with-different-skin-color-born/290834.