New show on identity asks why we are as we are

TWINS HOLD CLUES

Another room tells the story of twins born into the Hinch family who were actually born nearly three years apart because they were separated through the freezing and delayed development of one embryo.

Twins hold particular fascination when considering identity, because their similar DNA profiles and frequent physical resemblance do not necessarily mean they grow up to replicate each other's characters and interests.

Francis Galton is also featured in the exhibition for his proposal that humans must be divisible into types and his subsequent search to find a scientific basis for the theory.

The Victorian scientist was obsessed with measuring and analyzing vast ranges of human traits, and, the show's organizers argue, could be credited with inventing a "science of identity".

"The focus (of the show) is a self-conscious attempt to think about who we are and how society pins down our place in the social mix," said Ken Arnold, head of public programs at the Wellcome Trust, a charity which funds research into human and animal health.

"It tries to capture that sense in which what the science tells us and what Big Brother tells us sort of have an influence on each other."

The show, which runs from November 26 to April 6, 2010, is part of a wider project on identity being organized to mark the 10th anniversary of the Human Genome Project, or the sequencing of the human genome in 2000.

That year also marked the first British series of the Big Brother television show which the Wellcome Trust associated with our desire to find out more about who we are.

(Edit:Ruby)