After soaking your fingers or placing your feet into the water for a while, they might get wrinkled like this:
Why?
Some might say that’s due to being in the water a long time, which makes our skin swollen. Before I also thought it was just a random accidental effect of the wetness.
But, have you ever wondered why this scene only occurs on the fingers and toes?
Why doesn’t it appear in the other parts of our body?
A scientific study did research on finding the reason that wet fingers and toes wrinkle.
The study showed that if you cut the nerves to the fingers and toes, the wrinkling phenomenon disappears, which proves the wrinkling is a self-directed act rather than a phenomenon caused by wetness.
Then why would our brain send the signal only to wrinkle the fingers and toes? The study made an F1 racing car tire analogy.
The smooth tire provides a superb grip under dry conditions; by contrast, the wrinkle tire gives a better grip on wet ground. The wrinkles will construct a drainage network that will channel away from the water on the surface and thereby maintain a firm grip.
Our body is truly still a big mystery to the entire human race…
The study source: Are Wet-Induced Wrinkled Fingers Primate Rain Treads?
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