Did you know that your finger wrinkle under water because….

Have you ever wondered why your finger pads wrinkle when they are exposed to water for a certain time? Scientists thought they had figured out the right answer – osmosis. They thought our fingers absorbed water and that caused the wrinkling process. But they were wrong.

A 2011 study showed that the wrinkling was due to a mechanism triggered by our nervous system. The study also proved that when our fingers wrinkle, it is  easier to grip objects underwater. It means the wrinkling is an evolutionary response to the change of our environment.

In the study the researchers made the participants move dry and wet objects. The catch was that they had to do this first with dry fingers and then with wet and wrinkled ones. Can you guess what the results were? The study showed that moving objects with wrinkled fingers was 12% faster than moving objects with dry fingers.

It looks like our own bodies never cease to amaze us.

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