While it sounds like something straight out of a science fiction movie or an "X-Files" episode, the embryonic twin brain is completely real for 26 year-old Indiana native Yamini Karanam, who had been suffering from increasingly painful headaches - and discovered the incredible reason when undergoing a surgical procedure in Los Angeles.
The phenomenon of the embryonic twin brain has gone viral over the past couple of days, ranking high among worldwide trending topics in Google and social media, as science aficionados around the planet are perplexed at the strange idea of an undeveloped twin in someone's brain being the cause of trouble.
According to NBC Los Angeles, doctors discovered Karanam's embryonic twin brain when operating on her to extract a brain tumor that had been bothering her for years, only to realize that the condition was actually a "teratoma," a rarity in modern science, which wasn't only embryo but also had bone, hair and even teeth.
No wonder the poor woman was suffering from headaches!
Science Alert reports that Karanam, an Indiana University student currently pursuing her PhD, was getting terrible headaches and having trouble with her reading and listening comprehension, so she went to see doctors who, after testing her, spotted a pea-sized tumor that was growing rapidly on her herpineal gland, never thinking it was actually an embryonic twin brain.
It's unclear what exactly causes cases like the embryonic twin brain one, but one of the main theories is that these are actually embryonic twins that didn't develop and were absorbed by a surviving brother or sister.
Ever since the discovery became viral, Karanam has taken things in good humor, calling the phenomenon her "evil twin sister who's been torturing [her] for the past 26 years."
Live Science reports, however, that contrary to popular belief, the "embryonic twin" brain is ill named, as they arise from germ cells, which have the ability to transform into any cell of the body.
