PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Your fingers wrinkle in the same pattern every time you’re in the water for too long

Research shows fingers wrinkle the same way with every water immersion

2025-05-12
(Press-News.org) Do your wrinkles always form in the same pattern every time you're in the water for too long? According to new research from Binghamton University, State University of New York, the answer is yes.

A couple of years ago, Binghamton University Associate Professor Guy German published research about why human skin wrinkles when you stay in the water too long. Received wisdom held that the water swelled your skin and made your fingers wrinkly, but little to no research had been done to prove that.

What German and his team at the Biological Soft Matter Mechanics Laboratory found is that blood vessels beneath the skin actually contract after prolonged immersion, and that’s where the wrinkles come from.

He wrote about the research for The Conversation — a nonprofit news organization that asks academics to share their expertise on current topics — as part of its Curious Kids feature. One of the follow-up questions stumped him, though.

“A student asked, ‘Yeah, but do the wrinkles always form in the same way?’ And I thought: I haven’t the foggiest clue!” said German, a faculty member at the Thomas J. Watson College of Engineering and Applied Science’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. “So it led to this research to find out.”

In a paper recently published in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, German and Rachel Laytin ’23, MS ’24, show that, yes, the topography patterns remain constant after multiple immersions.

“Blood vessels don’t change their position much — they move around a bit, but in relation to other blood vessels, they’re pretty static,” German said. “That means the wrinkles should form in the same manner, and we proved that they do.”

The research put subjects’ fingers in water for 30 minutes, taking photos and then repeating the immersion under the same conditions at least 24 hours later. By comparing the images, German and Laytin found the same patterns of raised loops and ridges after both immersions.

They also made an interesting side discovery: “We’ve heard that wrinkles don’t form in people who have median nerve damage in their fingers,” German said. “One of my students told us, ‘I’ve got median nerve damage in my fingers.’ So we tested him — no wrinkles!”

As much fun as it was to figure out something a child asked, the research also could have real-world applications in forensics, such as fingerprinting at crime scenes and identifying bodies found after prolonged water exposure. German’s father, a retired U.K. police officer, faced some of these challenges during his law enforcement career.

“Biometrics and fingerprints are built into my brain,” he said. “I always think about this sort of stuff, because it’s fascinating.”

German is eager to further explore questions about skin immersion with his students: “I feel like a kid in a candy store, because there’s so much science here that I don’t know. We thank the people at The Conversation and the wonderful question they asked us, because does it create cool new science.”

END


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

ChatGPT helps pinpoint precise locations of seizures in the brain, aiding neurosurgeons

2025-05-12
Hoboken, N.J., May 12, 2025 — Epilepsy, one of the most common neurological disorders characterized by recurrent seizures, affects over 70 million people worldwide. In the United States, about 3.4 million people live with this challenging condition. Around one third of the epilepsy cases cannot be controlled by medications. For those patients, surgical resection of the epileptogenic zone (EZ), an area whose removal can lead to seizure freedom — a period of time when a person with epilepsy experiences no seizures — can be ...

Addressing hearing loss may reduce isolation among the elderly

2025-05-12
Providing hearing aids and advice on their use may preserve social connections that often wane as we age, a new study shows. Its authors say that this approach could help ease the loneliness epidemic that older Americans face. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than a quarter of seniors say they have little or no contact with others, and a third report feeling lonely. Experts have linked such isolation in part to hearing loss, which can interfere with communication and relationship building. The 2023 U.S. Surgeon General’s Advisory named improving social connection as great a priority as targeting tobacco use, ...

CAR-T cell therapy for cancer causes “brain fog,” Stanford Medicine-led study shows

2025-05-12
After treatment with CAR-T cells — immune cells engineered to attack cancer — patients sometimes tell their doctors they feel like they have “brain fog,” or forgetfulness and difficulty concentrating. A new Stanford Medicine-led study shows that CAR-T cell therapy causes mild cognitive impairments, independent of other cancer treatments, and that this happens via the same cellular mechanism as cognitive impairment from two other causes: chemotherapy and respiratory infections such as flu and ...

First evidence of mother-offspring attachment types in wild chimpanzees

2025-05-12
To the point Mother-offspring attachment in the wild: Wild chimpanzees develop secure or insecure-avoidant attachments to their mothers, but not disorganised attachments, suggesting that it is not a viable survival strategy in the wild. Attachment types: Chimpanzees with secure attachment are confident, while those with insecure-avoidant attachment are more independent. Disorganised attachment, common in humans and captive chimps, is linked to emotional and mental health issues. Potential parenting lessons: Taking into account the impact of ...

Mental distress among females following 2021 abortion restrictions in Texas

2025-05-12
About The Study: The findings of this study suggest that Texas’s abortion restrictions were associated with increases in mental distress among females of reproductive age, especially among younger individuals who may have less ability to overcome barriers to abortion care. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Jusung Lee, PhD, email jusung.lee@utsa.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2025.9576) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for ...

First-generation and low-income students in the national medical student body

2025-05-12
About The Study: This cross-sectional study of U.S. medical student matriculants found a decrease in the number of matriculants who were first-generation. These students were at significant risk of attrition from medical school, particularly when considering the intersectionality with low-income and underrepresented in medicine identities. These results suggest a need to recruit and retain these students, so that the physician workforce better reflects the backgrounds and experiences of the communities served. Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Sophia C. Kamran, MD, email skamran@mgh.harvard.edu. To ...

U.S. children living with a parent with substance use disorder

2025-05-12
About The Study: Nearly 19 million children were estimated to be living in a household with at least 1 parent with substance use disorder, accounting for one-quarter of all U.S. children in 2023. Children in such households are more likely to develop adverse health outcomes than their peers without exposure to parental substance use disorder.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Sean Esteban McCabe, PhD, email plius@umich.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2025.0828) Editor’s ...

Changes in physical and mental health after the end of SNAP emergency allotments

2025-05-12
About The Study: After the end of emergency allotments nationwide by March 2023, there were significant increases in food insecurity and poor physical health days among Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) participants. No changes in poor mental health days or poor or fair health status were observed.  Corresponding Author: To contact the corresponding author, Rishi K. Wadhera, MD, MPP, MPhil, email rwadhera@bidmc.harvard.edu. To access the embargoed study: Visit our For The Media website at this link https://media.jamanetwork.com/ (doi:10.1001/jama.2025.6010) Editor’s Note: Please see the article for additional information, including other authors, ...

Drug to slow Alzheimer’s well tolerated outside of clinical trial setting

2025-05-12
The Food and Drug Administration’s approval in 2023 of lecanemab — a novel Alzheimer’s therapy shown in clinical trials to modestly slow disease progression — was met with enthusiasm by many in the field as it represented the first medication of its kind able to influence the disease. But side effects — brain swelling and bleeding — emerged during clinical trials that have left some patients and physicians hesitant about the treatment. Medications can have somewhat different effects once they are released into the real world with broader ...

Exposome Moonshot launching in Washington D.C.

2025-05-12
Under embargo until 10:00 AM EST May 12, 2025    Who?      500+ public health researchers, thought-leaders, policy-makers & civil society actors. What?     Inaugural Exposome Moonshot Forum. Where?   Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg Center, Washington D.C. When?    Monday May 12th to Thursday May 15th, 2025: www.exposomemoonshot.org         Background: The Human Genome Project, initiated in 1990 and completed in 2003, was a global scientific effort to map and sequence all genetic material, the information needed to ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

New way to find “aged” cells marks fresh approach for research into ageing

From blood sugar to brain relief: GLP-1 therapy slashes migraine frequency

Variability in heart rate during sleep may reveal early signs of stroke, depression or cognitive dysfunction, new study shows

New method to study catalysts could lead to better batteries

Current Molecular Pharmacology impact factor rises to 2.9, achieving Q2 ranking in the Pharmacology & Pharmacy category in 2024 JCR

More time with loved ones for cancer patients spared radiation treatment

New methods speed diagnosis of rare genetic disease

Genetics of cardiomyopathy risk in cancer survivors differ by age of onset

Autism inpatient collection releases genetic, phenotypic data for more than 1,500 children with autism

Targeting fusion protein’s role in childhood leukemia produces striking results

Clear understanding of social connections propels strivers up the social ladder

New research reveals why acute and chronic pain are so different – and what might make pain last

Stable cooling fostered life, rapid warming brought death: scientists use high-resolution fusuline data reveal evolutionary responses to cooling and warming

New research casts doubt on ancient drying of northern Africa’s climate

Study identifies umbilical cord blood biomarkers of early onset sepsis in preterm newborns

AI development: seeking consistency in logical structures

Want better sleep for your tween? Start with their screens

Cancer burden in neighborhoods with greater racial diversity and environmental burden

Alzheimer disease in breast cancer survivors

New method revolutionizes beta-blocker production process

Mechanism behind life-threatening cancer drug side-effect revealed

Weighted vests might help older adults meet weight loss goals, but solution for corresponding bone loss still elusive

Scientists find new way to predict how bowel cancer drugs will stop working – paving the way for smarter treatments

Breast cancer patients’ microbiome may hold key to avoiding damaging heart side-effects of cancer therapies

Exercise-induced protein revives aging muscles and bones

American College of Cardiology issues guidance on weight management drugs

Understanding the effect of bedding on thermal insulation during sleep

Cosmic signal from the very early universe will help astronomers detect the first stars

With AI, researchers find increasing immune evasion in H5N1

Study finds hidden effects of wildfires on water systems

[Press-News.org] Your fingers wrinkle in the same pattern every time you’re in the water for too long
Research shows fingers wrinkle the same way with every water immersion