Your fingers may be awesomer than you knew?
Abstract
Wet fingers and toes eventually wrinkle, and this is commonly attributed by lay opinion to local osmotic reactions. However, nearly a century ago surgeons observed that no wrinkling occurs if a nerve to the finger has been cut. Here we provide evidence that, rather than being an accidental side effect of wetness, wet-induced wrinkles have been selected to enhance grip in wet conditions. […]
“Are Wet-Induced Wrinkled Fingers Primate Rain Treads?”, Changizi, Weber, Kotecha, & Palazzo - BoingBoing and Discover have links to the PDF (only BoingBoing's works for me right now).
Wet fingers and toes eventually wrinkle, and this is commonly attributed by lay opinion to local osmotic reactions. However, nearly a century ago surgeons observed that no wrinkling occurs if a nerve to the finger has been cut. Here we provide evidence that, rather than being an accidental side effect of wetness, wet-induced wrinkles have been selected to enhance grip in wet conditions. […]
“Are Wet-Induced Wrinkled Fingers Primate Rain Treads?”, Changizi, Weber, Kotecha, & Palazzo - BoingBoing and Discover have links to the PDF (only BoingBoing's works for me right now).