TikTok’s Viral “Genes Go Crazy” Trend Is a Genetics Plot Twist

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TikTok is in its genetic flex era thanks to the viral “Mom Genetics Go Crazy” trend—where families are showing off their strongest DNA matches. Set to the 90s bop “All That She Wants” by Ace of Base, moms and daughters are posting side-by-side glow-ups that have commenters calling them clones. With creators like Savannah LaBrant and the McKnight family joining in, the trend has sparked a playful debate: did dad even contribute?  But once dads entered the chat with their own lookalike kids, things got even more interesting—and had us diving into the science of how genetics actually work. That old theory that babies evolved to look like their dads? It’s been debunked. Research shows we inherit 50/50 DNA from each parent, but how those genes express is totally unpredictable—which explains why one sibling can be mom’s twin and the other dad’s doppelgänger.

Transcript

00:00Families on TikTok are showing off their genetic flecks,

00:02sparking a viral trend that's got us wondering,

00:05does DNA actually play favorites?

00:08Set to the 90s hit All That She Wants by Asa Bass,

00:12moms and daughters are posting side-by-side lip sync videos

00:14sharing their resemblance,

00:16and the results are freaking people out.

00:18The comments on TikTok are going wild with lines like,

00:21it's kinda scary, it's like a clone,

00:24and was the dad even involved?

00:26Top creators like Savannah Lambrant from the Lambrant family

00:29and Brooklyn and Bailey McKnight,

00:31whose mom is the founder of Heritage,

00:33are some of the favorites who have joined the trend.

00:35And just when you start to think

00:37maybe mom's genetics are stronger,

00:39twins Kyle and Kamar joined in to remind us all,

00:42sometimes mom genes didn't stand a chance.

00:45And with dads now jumping in with their own mini-me's,

00:48it got us thinking,

00:49how does genetics really decide

00:50who a child ends up looking like?

00:53So apparently there's an old wives' tale

00:55that suggests an evolutionary theory

00:57that newborns evolved to resemble their fathers,

01:00so the dads would recognize their own kid and stick around.

01:03Although the idea had some roots in science back in 1995,

01:07when a study from UC San Diego

01:09found people were better at matching one-year-olds

01:11to their fathers than to their mothers,

01:13recent studies,

01:14like those highlighted by Scientific American,

01:17show there's no real proof

01:18that babies look more like dads than their moms.

01:21But here's what's really going on.

01:22According to DNAexplained.com,

01:25every child gets 50% of their DNA from each parent.

01:28But the scientific pieces of DNA you inherit

01:31from each of your grandparents aren't evenly split,

01:34which could explain why genetics are so unpredictable

01:37and why one parent's feature

01:38sometimes takes over the whole child's face.

01:41And if you need proof that genetics

01:42are basically playing roulette,

01:44just check out the Chow Crew,

01:46where they showcased how one of their twins

01:48looks just like mom,

01:49and the other, 100% dad vibes.

01:52But that's what makes this trend so addicting.

01:54It's science in real time.

01:56But what's your take?

01:57Share your thoughts below

01:58and follow us everywhere at What's Trending.

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