The world is full of similar people who are not connected by blood ties. How is it possible that two people, born and raised in different parts of the world, look like two peas in a pod? Is there a clear scientific explanation for this phenomenon?

People who are similar to each other and are not relatives - is this possible? It turns out yes. A French photographer once had a wonderful idea. He found and captured on film similar people who were not related by any blood ties. His name is Francois Brunelle. It took him about twelve years to realize his idea. The photographer tracked people with eerily similar features around the world and helped them find their doppelgängers. Some photos of similar people from the work of Francois Brunelle are presented in this article. Carefully study the proposed images and compare how many similarities there are between complete strangers who are not related by blood.

Every person in this world has 7 doubles

They say that every person in this world has at least seven very similar people. One can easily agree that this assumption is quite frightening and unnatural. It is hardly possible to find two exact copies on our planet, identical as two drops of water. Even blood twins have features that, at least slightly, make it possible for those around them to distinguish them, not to mention a stranger who lives on the other side of the Earth.

Not the same, but, nevertheless, incredibly similar people still exist, and not as rarely as it might seem. They live in different cities, countries, continents, and lead a completely different way of life. They do not have common genes, they differ in language and culture, but their similarity really cannot be denied.

Same appearance - same character?

We all know that there are similar people. Is this purely a superficial resemblance? Can a person and his counterpart from another country have the same character traits and type of activity? It would be strange and surprising at the same time. In fact, it happens in different ways. For example, there once lived in Rome an emperor named Maximin (early 4th century AD), and so, looking at his bust, you can see in his features the dictator from the 20th century, familiar to everyone - Adolf Hitler. These similar people not only had the same facial features, but both were dictators in their time, and both died ignominiously.

It is quite difficult to answer this question; modern science does not have exact answers, there are only guesses. One of the most likely versions is the one that explains the external similarity of complete strangers by an identical genetic structure. For a reason that is unclear to date, similar people have exactly the same DNA.

These twins are also called biogenic. This means that their genetic material is the same, but their biological parents are different. It happens that people can be similar and live in different places at the same time and be the same age. Some may be separated by years, centuries, or even entire millennia. Natural diversity, it turns out, is not limitless, there are billions of people in the world, and there is always a chance of a random coincidence of genetic sets.

Secret relationship

Scientists believe it is quite possible that similar people are very, very distant relatives. By resorting to basic mathematical analysis, one can make the following calculations: the average citizen, after eight generations, will be the descendant of 256 relatives who, one way or another, are related by blood ties. If we imagine that 40, 50 or more generations have passed, the relatives will number in the millions. And no one knows where the genetic material will coincide and in what generation.

In card jargon, genes are shuffled like cards in a deck, but at a certain moment the same “hands” appear with minimal probability. Then doubles are born, people who are as similar to each other as two peas in a pod. Perhaps nature has its own plans for this, its own secret goals.

Search for doubles on the Internet

Today, on the World Wide Web, there are many sites with which you can find an exact copy of yourself among show business stars, great emperors and historically significant leaders using photographs. They are also looking for their doubles among the most ordinary people of their different cities and states. You just need to upload your photo in a certain format, and after a while the search engines will be able to find for you a couple of twins, or at least people who will be very similar to you.

Such sites are quite popular, because it is actually interesting to know, and even more so to see, your double. It's like meeting yourself in a parallel world. Before the advent of the Internet, this was almost impossible to do, but now there are a lot of active search opportunities, and why not take advantage of them?

Miracles, and that's all

Doppelgangers are a phenomenon that is interesting in itself. People are more or less accustomed to the similarity of blood twins and granddaughters and their great-grandmothers, but to meet a person who is exactly like another person who is not a relative, and even lives thousands of kilometers away, this is more interesting.

Who knows, maybe in the future scientists will figure out how to use this quirk of nature. It is likely that the similarity of genomes can open up incredible prospects in such a field of medicine as transplantology. As biologists assure, the chance of an exact match of genetic sets infinitely approaches zero. However, partial copying of genes is quite normal, which proves that all of humanity is one big family.