Fingers wrinkle the same way every time they’re in the water too long

<p><pre><code> “A student asked, ‘Yeah, but do the wrinkles always form in the same way?’ And I thought: I haven’t the foggiest clue!” said German, a faculty member at the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. “So it led to this research to find out.” </code></pre> I wish the authors would have mentioned the kid by name in the acknowledgement section of the paper. I bet the kid would have felt very proud and inspired to having their name published in a scientific journal.

This article instantly brought back memories of my childhood when my fingers would wrinkle after being in water too long. I used to think it was caused by the skin swelling from water, but it turns out it&#x27;s actually due to blood vessels contracting—what a surprise! Even more amazing, this research not only answers a childhood question but can also be applied in forensic science, which I never expected! Do we still retain curiosity about the world around us? Have I overlooked the huge potential hidden in small details? Curiosity is truly important， it always leads us to discover unexpected worlds.

It&#x27;s probably an evolutionary adaptation to give us better grip in the water. People with nerve damage who can&#x27;t feel their fingers also don&#x27;t get pruny fingers, so there&#x27;s clearly a &quot;get pruny&quot; signal coming from the brain or at least higher up in the nervous system.

Most biometrics aren&#x27;t easily hidden from your environment, everyone&#x27;s constantly leaving fingerprints and handprints all over everything, shedding skin cells and other DNA material, face and irises can be easily photographed.<p>So it&#x27;s kind of cool that a theoretical biometric could be stable over time and not easily leaked, that could take time to produce. Like some sort of cold storage biometric in the far future once certain biometrics become less useful after they&#x27;re too easily lifted and replicated with new technology. Sort of like deprecating obsolete cryptographic protocols once they&#x27;re too easily broken.

This actually made me smile. I usually wash my clothes by hand, and every time I do a big batch, I always get those wrinkly fingers never thought much of it. It&#x27;s kind of wild to realize there&#x27;s actual research behind it. Even more surprising that it connects to forensic science and fingerprinting. Science really does hide in the most ordinary places. I love this kind of curiosity.

As we continue to look for ways to slow down attacks, I didn&#x27;t expect to have &quot;have user wear wet glove for 30 minutes&quot; on my bingo card.<p>Interesting idea though. Tracking biometrics through slow reproducible processes.

Definitely a contender for the 35th First Annual Ig Nobel Prize!

I often wondered how long we can stay in water before it becomes harmful. I used to imagine what might happen if I stayed submerged for hours. It wasn’t until later that I found out the skin wrinkling effect is actually caused by the nervous system reacting to prolonged exposure to water, which is believed to help improve grip.<p>But how long is too long? Prolonged immersion can lead to skin damage or dehydration, and the risk depends on water temperature and the individual’s condition. It’s fascinating how much our bodies can adapt, but it also reminds me how important it is to listen to our bodies and not push limits.<p>Does each body have a different tolerance to water immersion? Can we train our bodies to withstand longer periods, or is there a limit to what our skin can handle?

I am reminded of a theory years ago that fingers wrinkling in water might have an evolutionary function, specifically to improve our grip when wet (or in water).<p>The wrinkly formation lets water drain better (like treads of a tire).

I should add my wrinkly fingers to my phone&#x27;s fingerprint sensor, then. I very often can&#x27;t unlock my phone because my hands are wet.

Shampoo makers add ingredients which alter what you perceive with fingers. so if you wash your hair with gloves on hand, you can feel that shampoo did nothing to your hair. or try one hand with glove, other without and you can touch your hair to feel that scam.<p>also most shampoos, shower gels are just soap making ingredients + fragrance + color...<p>not walking on direct sun most of the day did more to beauty of current population than any beauty product on planet. yes im ugly.

Your fingerprints are largely static according to all police forces. To me that implies that the skin on your fingers probably wrinkles in a largely constant way too when submerged in water. No evidence nor research done here - just fiat!<p>If this is new then CSI will probably have a new tool. I suggest investigating other areas of the body to see if the same holds.<p>Do we have toe prints? ... and does the wrinkling thing hold for toes?

So my fingers are basically running the same wrinkle playlist every time I take a long bath — who knew!

isn’t that obvious?

Ah, the science frontier. Just imagine the possibilities now!