Photo: indi.ca
Science has FINALLY figured out why our hands shrivel up like prunes when we spend too long in the bathtub or a pool. I never realized there WASN'T a good scientific explanation . . . but there wasn't. --The theory was always that the pruning came from water absorption. Which is boring. So a team of scientists at Newcastle University in England studied the shriveling, and came up with the REAL reason it happens. --They proved that when our fingers are pruned, they're actually MUCH better at grabbing things that are wet . . . kind of like the tread on a tire. --Ancient humans actually evolved that way because they needed to grab wet food after it rained, or food that was growing in a stream. And our toes shrivel up for a similar reason . . . so we can walk better when it's wet.
(Smithsonian Magazine)
