[QUOTE]article: [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2013/01/15/science/wrinkled-fingers-get-better-grip-on-wet-objects.html?_r=0[/url]
The prunelike wrinkles that result from a long, hot bath may have an evolutionary purpose, researchers say.
Writing in the journal Biology Letters, the scientists report that wrinkled fingers and toes allow a better grip on wet objects — so they may have evolved to give early humans an advantage in wet conditions.
“People are about 12 percent quicker” at moving wet objects, said an author of the study, Tom Smulders, an evolutionary biologist at Newcastle University in England, “if their fingers are wrinkled than if their fingers are non-wrinkled.”
He and his colleagues tested how quickly wrinkled and unwrinkled fingers could move wet and dry marbles. All the participants in the study were able to transfer dry marbles faster than wet marbles, but wrinkly fingers helped with the wet ones.
“It’s not just our fingers that do it, but our toes do it as well,” Dr. Smulders said. “The actual origin of this may have been to help us move on all fours.”
Wrinkly fingers could also have helped with gathering food from wet vegetation or streams.
Why, then, are finger pads not permanently wrinkled?
That remains to be studied, Dr. Smulders said, but “it may be that wrinkled fingers are more easily injured, or they may affect the sense of touch.” Further research with other species that share this feature may also help explain how long ago wrinkly fingers and toes evolved, and for what purpose.[/QUOTE]
So that's what those wrinkles were for...
Why fingers are not permanently wrinkled: because there is no need to when working with dry objects.
[QUOTE=itisjuly;39173553]Why fingers are not permanently wrinkled: because there is no need to when working with dry objects.[/QUOTE]
Quite the dry fapper eh?
[QUOTE=itisjuly;39173553]Why fingers are not permanently wrinkled: because there is no need to when working with dry objects.[/QUOTE]
By that logic, what is the need to unwrinkle? Why have the capability to change in the first place?
[QUOTE=itisjuly;39173553]Why fingers are not permanently wrinkled: because there is no need to when working with dry objects.[/QUOTE]
What? No, when you're handling a dry object with dry fingers the ridges, bifurcations and grooves in your finger prints give extra grip as well as the pores and oils on your skin.
[QUOTE=itisjuly;39173553]Why fingers are not permanently wrinkled: because there is no need to when working with dry objects.[/QUOTE]
No, the wrinkles remove some sensitivity from our sense of touch. Having unwrinkled fingers gives us a better sense of feeling, as we are feeling the object itself, with no interference from the flaps of wet skin.
[QUOTE=Crreeaammy;39173628]By that logic, what is the need to unwrinkle? Why have the capability to change in the first place?[/QUOTE]
I would imagine that wrinkly skin is more easy to catch on things and tear.
[QUOTE=Crreeaammy;39173628]By that logic, what is the need to unwrinkle? Why have the capability to change in the first place?[/QUOTE]
Being soaking wet all the time is harmful to the skin. Think Trenchfoot, and like the article says it makes it easier to split yourself open on something sharp.
This is some pretty handy knowledge, thanks for sharing.
[QUOTE=RR_Raptor65;39173739]Being soaking wet all the time is harmful to the skin. Think Trenchfoot, and like the article says it makes it easier to split yourself open on something sharp.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=imptastick;39173691]I would imagine that wrinkly skin is more easy to catch on things and tear.[/QUOTE]
Haha no I know, I was trying to explain the fallacy in itisjuly's thoughts. Or that not having a need to be wrinkled isn't a good enough reason for them to unwrinkle anyways. My bad :P
[QUOTE=imptastick;39173691]I would imagine that wrinkly skin is more easy to catch on things and tear.[/QUOTE]
Old people frequently get tangled up in bushes. . .I had to rescue three just this morning.
[QUOTE=NuclearJesus;39174406]Old people frequently get tangled up in bushes. . .I had to rescue three just this morning.[/QUOTE]
How often to elderly people have to do the more active things our ancestors did? This trait could go back to when our ancestors still climbed trees or at least when tools were simply rocks that had a good shape to them, both of which could tear loose skin. I know I tear up my hands working outside in the summer, I imagine it would be worse if my skin was always wrinkly.
I always thought it was the skin "squeezing" itself to get rid of excessive water.
damn theres this wet thing i need to hold oh well ill just put my hands in a bucket of water for 20 minutes.
[QUOTE=Electrocuter;39174793]I always thought it was the skin "squeezing" itself to get rid of excessive water.[/QUOTE]
I was under the impression it was because our pores filled with water therfore making our skin expand. Kind of like fat people who've lost weight.
[QUOTE=Electrocuter;39174793]I always thought it was the skin "squeezing" itself to get rid of excessive water.[/QUOTE]
[QUOTE=thedekoykid;39175403]I was under the impression it was because our pores filled with water therfore making our skin expand. Kind of like fat people who've lost weight.[/QUOTE]
Haven't either of you taken a biology class since 1935? It's because of the water draining your skin of electrolytes through the sweat ducts. This causes neurons that control blood vessels to fire more rapidly. Increased neuronal firing causes blood vessels to constrict, decreasing the amount of fluid underneath the skin, and that causes a decrease in tension, so the skin becomes loose and wrinkly.
We get this on our feet too right? I feel more like spiderman already.
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