But as it turns out, there’s still a possibility of stumbling upon someone alike. "A lot of the people we see as doppelgangers are people we don't know very well," Dr. Michael Sheehan, a neurobiologist at Cornell University, explained. "You're a lot more likely to see a doppelganger of an acquaintance than your mom. You know your mom really well. If someone looks similar you can appreciate it," he said and added that you still should be able to quickly spot the differences, in comparison to someone you don't know as well.
"There is only so much genetic diversity to go around," Dr. Sheehan told Live Science. "If you shuffle that deck of cards so many times, at some point, you get the same hand dealt to you twice."
However, that "deck of cards" is incredibly voluminous because there’s a huge number of genes that determine the facial structure, hair, eye and skin color. And they are all highly variable. And even if you’re one of the lucky ones who manage to run into someone who looks eerily similar, there’s a high chance that time and other factors like changing hairstyles will distort your doppelganger promise.
"Growing up one of my younger brothers was like the spitting image of me when I was 3," Dr. Sheehan said and added that time has also done a number on that. "We look similar-ish now, but not the same."
#37 When They Said I Was Going To Be Advertising Our University, This Isn’t What I Had In Mind
