At last... scientists finally discover that your fingers wrinkle when they're wet to improve your grip like tyre treads on the road
- Lab tests at Newcastle University have confirmed the reaction is evoluntionary
- It is often assumed that the wrinkling is the result of water saturating the skin
- In fact, it is the result of blood vessels constricting below the skin
The scientific community was baffled by exactly why our fingers wrinkle and pucker when soaked in wate
Believe it or not, but until now the scientific community was baffled by exactly why our fingers wrinkle and pucker when soaked in water.
Now, lab tests have confirmed a theory that the phenomenon may have an evolutionary function: to improve the grip on wet objects as water can be channelled in a similar way to how treads in car tyres work.
It is often assumed that the wrinkling is the result of water saturating the skin. In fact, it is the result of blood vessels constricting below the skin.
In the new study, researchers at Newcastle University asked volunteers to picked up wet or dry objects, including marbles of different sizes, with dry hands or with fingers wrinkled after soaking for 30 minutes.
The volunteers were faster at picking up wet marbles with wrinkled fingers than with dry ones.
Tom Smulders, an evolutionary biologist and co-author of the paper, said: ‘Wrinkled fingers could have helped our ancestors to gather food from wet vegetation or streams.’
Most watched News videos
- Shocking moment gunman allegedly shoots and kills Iraqi influencer
- Moment pro-Gaza students harass Jacob Rees-Mogg at Cardiff University
- Moment Met Police officer tasers aggressive dog at Wembley Stadium
- Boris Johnson: Time to kick out London's do-nothing Mayor Sadiq Khan
- Alfie Best reveals why he decided to leave Britain and move to Monaco
- Pro-Palestine protester shouts 'we don't like white people' at UCLA
- 'Dine-and-dashers' confronted by staff after 'trying to do a runner'
- Commuters evacuate King's Cross station as smoke fills the air
- Jewish man is threatened by a group of four men in north London
- Iraqi influencer Om Fahad poses for glamorous shoots on her TikTok
- Shocking moment group of yobs kill family's peacock with slingshot
- Fiona Beal dances in front of pupils months before killing her lover
