Just stay in the water for five minutes for the skin on your fingertips or toes to wrinkle. How is it possible ? A study from the University of Newcastle puts forward a new hypothesis.
AdvertisementThe skin is made up of three layers (epidermis, dermis and hypodermis), which would not be as spongy as each other, and would create furrows at the fingertips after prolonged immersion in water. 'water. This explanation had a long life, until a team of researchers from the British University of Newcastle discovered that it was in fact an evolutionary advantage.
Indeed, wrinkled fingers, like the grooves of a car tire, have a better grip on wet surfaces. Scientists discovered it by asking guinea pigs to grasp objects with dry fingers, then after immersing them in hot water for thirty minutes. Their effectiveness in grasping wet objects was found to be much better with wrinkled fingers.
On the same subject ⋙ Why do we have wrinkled fingers when we stay too long in the water?
⋙ What happens to our skin when it gets badly sunburned?
⋙ Why are the palms of the hands white?
This characteristic, which we share with the great apes, may have been an asset for the survival of our hunter-gatherer ancestors. The contraction of the blood vessels, at the origin of the appearance of the furrows, would be linked to the nervous system.
Article published in NEON magazine in December 2021-January 2022
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