Sonic (the) Hedgehog

Did you read about the two-faced baby, Lali, born in India a month ago? Unlike some of the other congenital oddities to have made the headlines in recent months, the two-faced baby is not two babies joined together. This is actually one baby, with two faces.

Being the curious researcher that I am (when procrastinating), I looked into the medical condition that the article cited as explanation for Lali's birth defect. It seems that she suffers from craniofacial duplication, otherwise known as diprosopus, Greek for "two-faced." Reading further, I learned that:

[Craniofacial duplication] is the result of a protein called Sonic hedgehog homolog (SHH). Among other things, this governs the width of facial features. In excess it leads to widening of facial features and to duplication of facial structures. The greater the widening, the more of the structures are duplicated, often in a mirror image form.

Did you catch that? The baby has two faces because of Sonic hedgehog homolog. Sonic the Hedgehog, what?

This is amazing. Perhaps you remember the game Sonic the Hedgehog (click here to play), whose crazy, spinning character gave fleeting relevance to the Sega video game system?

This morning, I had the opportunity to ask myself, with a straight face, "Which came first: Sonic the Hedgehog or the Sonic hedgehog homolog?"

Now, reader, I challenge you to embark upon your own research project to determine the answer for yourself.