Getting a Grip on Finger Wrinkles

Why do your fingers get pruney after a swim? Only a handful of researchers, including Einar Wilder-Smith, Mark Changizi, and Tom Smulders, have looked into the phenomenon. Publishing in Biology Letters, Smulders lends a hand to the hypothesis, set forth by Changizi and colleagues, that finger wrinkles improve our grip of wet objects.

Meet the Producer

About Flora Lichtman

Flora Lichtman is a host of Science Friday. In a previous life, she lived on a research ship where apertivi were served on the top deck, hoisted there via pulley by the ship’s chef.