Why Do Fingers Prune? - 3 Quarks Daily 3quarksdaily.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from 3quarksdaily.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Most of us will also admit that we have not really considered why this happens or thought more than a few seconds about it before our hands go back to normal. It turns out that there is a scientific and evolutionary reason for our fingers going wrinkly.
If you spend more than a few minutes in the shower or splashing around in a pool and your fingers will have a dramatic transformation. Where once delicate spirals of epidermis slightly stiff now there are a few plump folds of raisin skin. The shocking change is familiar, but still unnerving. Only the skin on
The skin on our fingertips and toes shrivels like prunes when soaked in water. But is this an adaptation from our evolutionary past? And what can it reveal about our health today?