Why Do Our Fingers Get Wrinkled in Water?

If you hold your fingers in water for 30 minutes, the skin on the fingers will get wrinkled. Every one of us has had the experience.

In the past, the explanation for it was that it happens because of the process called osmosis. 

Osmosis is a spontaneous net movement of solvent molecules through a semi- permeable membrane into a region of higher solute concentration.

However, modern scientists doesn’t agree. They say that the wrinkled skin is not a result of osmosis. Instead, it is a reaction to our autonomic nervous system. 

This system also controls breathing, heart rate and perspiration.

 In fact, the distinctive wrinkling is caused by blood vessels constricting bellow the skin. 

We can feel surfaces that we touch better with our wrinkled fingers in moist conditions.

This is a result of evolution. The wrinkling has first appeared to our predecessors. When they hunted fish their brain started adapting in order for the fingers to get better grip in the water.

Why isn’t our skin getting wrinkled permanently?

Scientists believe that the wrinkling would damage our skin if permanent. See the video for more information about this interesting appearance.