Your identity is ingrained in your face, infused in your features. Unless you’re a twin, your perception of yourself is probably so tied to your appearance that it’s tough to imagine a world where your looks aren’t altogether your own.
But ‘tough to imagine’ isn’t the same as ‘impossible.’ Despite what you assume about yourself and your description, there’s a small possibility that there’s someone out there who looks a lot like you: someone we would deem your ‘doppelgänger’ or ‘twin stranger.’
For hundreds of years, people have wondered what it means to have a doppelgänger, a distinct duplicate of them. For most of that time, the answer has been left to folklore and literature. But some scientists are starting to wonder themselves, and are arriving at their own scientifically supported answers. With that in mind, what is a doppelgänger, and how has the idea transformed over time? What does a meeting with a double mean, and what are our odds of finding one of our own?
Read More: Brain Scientists Probe the Mechanisms Behind Self-Identity
