Why Do We Have Fingerprints?
April 4, 2009 by Lisa Zyga
The grooves in fingerprints enhance our ability to sense textures, according to a recent study. Image credit: Wikimedia.
(PhysOrg.com) -- Unlike most wrinkles on our bodies, which appear due to bending and stretching of the skin, fingerprints aren't the result of repeated motion. Each of us is born with a unique set of them, although scientists aren't exactly sure what purpose fingerprints serve.
One possible purpose of fingerprints is that they improve our sense of touch. In a recent study, scientists have investigated this idea by performing a series of experiments with artificial fingertips made of rubber-like sensors. The scientists compared the sensitivity between these grooved artificial fingertips and a smooth skin-like material, and found that the grooved fingertips produced vibrations up to 100 times stronger than the smooth material when sliding against a slightly rough surface.
The researchers, from the Ecole Normale Superieure in Paris, explained that increased vibrations give us an enhanced sense of touch, especially for detecting textures. As you rub your fingers across a textured surface, your fingerprints specifically amplify vibrations in an optimized frequency range to stimulate the Pacinian corpuscles, which are nerve endings in the skin that detect textures. In turn, texture information allows us to identify objects by touch.
As the finding demonstrates, not only does our nervous system (the "software") play a role in tactile computation, but the physical characteristics of the body (the "hardware") also enhance the computation when sensing.
However, the research doesn't explain why everyone's fingerprints are unique, or why our fingerprints are typically arranged in elliptical swirls. The scientists suggest that the loop design may ensure that some ridges are always brushing perpendicular to a surface, no matter the orientation of the fingertips. In addition, the researchers predict that this work could lead to enhanced tactile feedback for prosthetic hands.
More information: "The Role of Fingerprints in the Coding of Tactile Information Probed with a Biomimetic Sensor." J. Scheibert, S. Leurent, A. Prevost, and G. Debregeas (13 March 2009) Science 323 (5920), 1503. DOI: 10.1126/science.1166467
via: CERN Courier and Science
© 2009 PhysOrg.com
Jan 05, 2009 |
not rated yet |
0
See:
http://en.wikiped...emistry)
As usual, whoever wrote the article had no idea what they were talking about. Typical physorg.
-Axemaster
Ethelred
Agree...typical physorg ignoramity
-fleem
Ethelred
Fleem
Axemaster
I just notice that both of you also sign your posts. In looking back a bit Axemaster seems to have taken it up lately.
I started doing it a while ago when posting to sites that wouldn't let me use Ethelred for a handle.
Ethelred
http://tinyurl.com/cgmelc
If we are in fact made in "God's image", god has more faces than my ex during her time of the month...
God - "Wow, these guys I'm making in my image are bound to commit crimes... I better put an easily visible, distinguishing mark on each of them. When they invent ink, it'll make life heaps easier for their law enforcers... I really wish I could remember why I fitted an appendix though."
Sounds completely feasible to me. And in consideration to my audience, I'll end with...
[/sarcasm]
Evolution is not an accident. You and I are each low probability but that is not the same as accidental. Humans evolved. The evidence is beyond strong.
If we were "WONDERFULLY made!" we wouldn't get cancer. I wouldn't be wearing glasses. Our eyes wouldn't have blood vessels in front of the retina. Our backs wouldn't fail from having evolved originally as a four legged animal.
Evolution works by mutation followed by selection. Both are unavoidable. You and I however are avoidable. Our specific existence is a matter of luck. Not good, not bad, just luck.
Humans are not inevitable. It could just as easily be a bunch of dinosaurs arguing that mammals are inferior to them and that it was the will of their god that they became ascendant.
Ethelred