A/N: I hope you understand that this story contains some non-fiction, meant to be informative.
Disclaimer: I do not own the Teen Titans.
Chapter 1: Minnesota Twin Study
The common room had an almost satisfied silence after Larry-the-alternate-dimension-Robin left. The five titans seemed to just stand there for a while letting the day's events catch up to them. The only one who wasn't puzzled over the prospects of an alternate dimension was Beast Boy, who let his mind wander for a while, until he came up with an interesting thought.
"Dude, what if you had a twin?"
Robin looked at him out of the side of his eyes, actually toying with the thought. He glanced at his cured finger and shook his head.
"You've got to be kidding me. After today, I don't even know if I want siblings."
This peaked Starfire's interest. "Oh but friend Robin, having the siblings is so much fun! I for one would not mind two Robins"
"..."
"Shut up, Cyborg."
"Hey, man! I didn't say nothing this time!"
Raven rolled her eyes at another argument that Beast Boy had started. Feeling exasperated, she turned to go to her room, only to be stopped by a green arm.
"I wouldn't mind two Ravens!" Beast boy grinned. "I can use one of them to play trivia with me on TV."
"Over both my dead bodies. Tell me, Robin, how much of intelligence is related to the environment? I think someone in our tower needs to have a brain check up. If he had one, that is."
Beast Boy pouted, once again having been shot down by Raven's sarcastic remarks. However, he perked up when he remembered something he had seen in the papers the other day. "Hey, I know a study in 1990 done by a man named Bou-something that tested the exact thing you're talking about, Rae!"
The other titans stared at Beast Boy like he had just used his brain. Oh wait. He did. Only Starfire seemed interested, floating to Beast Boy in curiosity.
"Oh do tell me about this relation, Beast Boy!"
Robin cleared his throat. "Actually, Star, the man's name was Bouchard, and he did a study on twins-"
"-that inherited smarts! Ow!" Beast Boy rubbed his head where Raven had whacked him.
"Stop confusing Starfire."
Smirking slightly, Robin brought the attention back to himself. "It was a study done in Minnesota, where Bouchard found over 100 sets of mono-zygotic identical twins and dizygotic-fraternal twins raised together and apart."
"Please, what is the mono..zygotic and the di...zygotic?"
"Well, Star, think of them as different types of twins. Monozygotic twins look similar while dizygotic do not..."
"But why?"
Cyborg groaned as he looked at a slightly blushing Robin. "Starfire, please don't ask any more questions."
Starfire looked indignant, but complied and continued listening to Robin.
"Okay, basically Bouchard tested them and found that the Monozygotic twins that were raised apart had a similarity of 76%, which is a very high correlation. He also stated that 70% of intelligence was because of genetics and 30% to other factors."
There was an awkward silence as no one dared to meet Beast Boy's eyes. Raven felt a tinge of guilt. She knew that Beast Boy had a brain, but like he said himself, it wasn't used that much. She glanced at Beast Boy a little sheepishly, but relaxed when she saw his slightly amused but understanding eyes.
Robin cleared his throat. "Well in any case, it was a correlational longitudinal study, and a lot of research has supported his findings. It was also a large sample, making the study more valid" He looked at Starfire, who appeared to be slightly confused.
Cyborg sighed. "I don't know why y'all are actually listening to this, but it means that the relationship between the twins show that genetics affect their intelligence more than their environment."
"There are way too many assumptions in this."
All heads now turned to Raven, who looked slightly peeved. They waited patiently for the critique they knew was coming.
"Bouchard assumed that the twins who were raised together experienced the same environment. There was also no control over how much contact the twins reared apart had." She rolled her eyes. "I'm going to my room to read."
Sensing that the fun was over, Beast Boy hopped on Cyborg's shoulders. "Tin Man, challenge you to Super Monkeys Racing Deluxe!"
"You're on grass-stain!"
And with that, there were only two.
Robin smiled at Starfire. "Was that interesting?"
Starfire shot a soft smile of her own. "Yes! Your Earthly ways are still so intriguing to me. Why do you conduct these studies of your own people? I would like to know more!"
"Ah, how about another day Star? Let's go watch the boys."
Just then, a cry of outrage came from the couch behind them. Starfire laughed. "Of course! I will bring the popping of corn."