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Elena Elisseeva / featurpics.com
There's a new wrinkle in the theory of why fingers and toes wrinkle when wet.
If you find yourself wearing flip-flops around a pool this weekend, consider this: You may already come equipped with skid-resistant footwear, thanks to evolution. New research suggests that our toes and fingers prune up when they're exposed to water because that temporarily gives us the equivalent of treaded all-weather tires.
People have assumed that "when water hits your fingers, some absorption happens and they wrinkle for no good reason. This suggests it's more than that," says neuroscientist Mark A. Changizi, who's been studying the purpose of pruney fingers and toes. "I see it as another great example of the brilliance and beauty of evolution's design."
As we've all noticed at one time or another, fingers and toes wrinkle up when they're wet. They don't have to be sitting in a bubble bath, either. "If you're just walking around in bare feet on wet, damp grass, you'll still get that water contact that would lead to pruning just as if you're submerged in water," says Changizi, an author and director of human cognition at a company called 2AI Labs in Idaho.
It might seem like pruning is just the skin's reaction to getting filled with water. But why does the skin wrinkle instead of just getting plumped up like a water balloon? And why does the nervous system seem to be involved? Weirdly enough, fingers and toes don't prune in people with severed nerves.
Changizi, who studies how hands work, discovered research about the severed nerve phenomenon from back in the 1930s. It got him to thinking about pruning: "It wasn't just some physical reaction. It was designed, and there's a damn good reason for it."
In a new report in the journal Brain, Behavior and Evolution, Changizi argues that pruney fingers and toes appear to do two things: they create channels that help water drain away, and they provide some resistance against slipperiness. In some people, wrinkles actually appear all across a wet foot, potentially providing even more skid-proof-ness.
Essentially, wet fingers and toes temporarily transform from racing tires (which are smooth to provide more speed) to all-weather tires (which have treads for traction), Changizi says. He added that the channels created by pruney fingers are similar to those that drain rainwater from mountains.
OK, so wet fingers and toes help keep you from slip-sliding away. But is there more to this than food for thought for scientists and maybe Paul Simon's next hit song?
Absolutely, Changizi says. Manufacturers of shoes and tires might be able to learn from evolution's design skills, he says. "I would imagine there are ideas that would be informed by this."
Maybe next, someone can come up with a flip-flop that keeps you from slipping but doesn't flip or flop or look absolutely ridiculous. We could all benefit from that kind of evolution.
Have you noticed a benefit from pruney fingers and toes? Tell us in the comments.
Want more weird health news? Find The Body Odd on Facebook.
Leave a Comment:
I don't know about all this; as a general rule, when my fingers get pruney I can't grip anything well, get cut easier.... it seems to have the opposite effect on me than a treaded tire. Mostly seems to be a good time to do away with now softened callouses, but otherwise? I let 'em dry before doing much at all....
Don't forget ionic exchange and gravity; remember those shoe inserts sold, to absorb toxins sweat out through the feet? Some foot pruniness (created a word there) may also be due to water exchange with the toxins, in the feet generally in greater concentration due to gravity.
The outer layer of our skin is dead, and generally somewhat dry..... in the end, I think someone's really overthinking this; like I said, no extra traction or really any manual dexterity plusses experienced here.
and I'll bet the fed gov't paid 10 million buck to find this out. Damn,,,,I've often heavily pondered the reason my toes/fingers got wringles when I bathed. I can live sooo much easier now.
'Evolution's design?' I have never and will never understand a statement like that. If something- anything- is designed it requires a designer. Such a conclusion requires neither blind credulity or fanatic religious fervor. It is rational, logical, and the most truly scientific 'hypothesis' any intelligent creature can come up with.
Curious. You just alluded to the most probable hypothesis for the existence of all life. And yet you apparently have no clue whatsoever that you have just done so. What saddness to live such a closeted life.
maybe because 'evolutions design" is less awkward than "natural selection has provided a slight advantage to those that have developed this trait and passed it on to their progeny"?
It's figurative speech. And if you insist there was a designer, I'd sooner bet on an unintelligent designer than an intelligent one.
Evolution is just a name of a design. In this case, the design of evolution is to let what doesn't work die, and allow what does work to flourish.
It is an observable process that we have named, that is all. No being came up with it. It is something that happens naturally everywhere.
Take advertising - if you suck, you will be put out of business, if you are good, you will continue onward. Think of pruned skin as a good advertiser that made the cut.
For all we know it provides better traction while swimming.
Anyways, to say "I'll never understand" says it all for me. You provide nothing of value for mankind.
Yeah, he lost me when he said "evolutions design"
It seems to me that "evolutionary design" set itself up for failure when it led to mankind as we now know it. Please let me know what aspect of Evolution or Survival of the Fittest has brought us to our current state of being a highly destructive, intellectually imbalanced, slothful and weak race of mankind.
If god is dead, like Nietzsche said, and evolution is the driving force, then we should *hypothetically* reflect the nietzschean idea of an "Ubermensch" in place of what we have become. You say pridefully that we have overcome god, I submit that we have allowed technology to overcome evolution.
Our "evolution" will cause some amalgamation of the post-apocalyptic nightmares that are so vividly envisioned in literature and cinema to eventually become a frightening reality. Too many factors lead to this conclusion in place of the Utopia of mankind's future that is a prevalent feature of the Star Trek genre.
Please help me, if I am so disillusioned in my perspective, but it seems to me that we are pridefully saying... in our limited intelligence and finite perception... that there is no God, no intelligent designer. Atheists proudly proclaim that they believe in science, not mythology, but last I checked, to be termed scientific, a method of inquiry must be based on gathering empirical and measurable evidence subject to specific principles of reasoning.
I'm pretty sure that an omniscient, omnipresent, and omnipotent being is a little beyond our current capability to measure or gather empirical evidence. The "scientific" atheist oversteps the boundaries of reality on the wings of their own ego.
Regardless, if you're right, then hey! congratulations, life's purpose is to be, and nothing more. Sounds like fun. If all of those people who you deem unintelligent or misled because they believe in a higher power are right, then the end result of this life and it's purpose might leave you just a little surprised.
All this "evolution's design talk" is the biggest crap ever! You know it's God's design and yet you deny it!! If you believe in evolution then just go to dr.dino.com and see how much you've been lied to!!
I'm not sure from your post if you believe or not in an intelligent creator, ie God, but I would say this...if you realize that just a few degrees (average temp.) higher or lower, and life as we know it would be impossible, if you have ever studied DNA and seen how exquisitly complicated it is, just one little change in a gene can have devastating consequences in the organism. Do you see how everything in nature works together, can you see how one small change in the laws of physics would have devastating results. There is no way that this earth and the life on it developed randomly. That would be like a new (for example) state of the art space shuttle miraculously appearing from all the parts in a junk yard. Impossible, just like the theory that life appeared from random selection starting from algae in the primordial soup.
dr dino dot com, LOL
Oh, my goodness. I went to drdino.com and had to stop reading for laughing so hard! Talk about circular logic, unfounded garbage. Sorry, Ross, I really tried.
all you really had to do is see the name "Kent Hovind", the guy is nuts. a "true believer" for sure, but nuts.
oh yeah, didn't you know that eve had a pet dinosaur?
There is no teleology in evolutionary biology. "evolution's design" just bespeaks sloppy thinking. One could however note that an evolutionary process had "converged" to a solution, all without any mistaken mention of a "designer".
Examples of convergent evolution abound. We and the octopus do not share a common eyeball design, yet the sequence of visual processing in each species optical cortex is identical. No designer, the same problems just have the same solutions.
Fact 1, Things go from order to DISORDER, not the other way around. For me to believe in The Body ODD's version of evolution, it would have to be in reverse of that. People who believe in that kind of evolution would have to believe in perpetual motion machines!!! No such thing.
Fact 2, Evolution is NOT intelligent, it is stupid. All it can do is keep the vigor of the species up and turn on and off genes THAT WERE PUT THERE. Example: Darwin's finches' beaks changed to fit the environment. I am a builder and it takes intelligence to make an ordered design out of chaos. Intelligent Design's version of evolution can't make dinosaurs into birds or a lower primate into a Human.Therefore a Design REQUIRES a Designer. To deny that is like somebody claiming all these android robots like Asimo hasn't any Makers and they evolved from explosions in a pile of silicon and metal!!!! Yes, ID incorporates a version of evolution in it's scientific position....so why do the other side claim ID is somehow "against" evolution????? Finches into DIFFERENT finches, finches nontheless.
Fact 3, The Mud to Man Evolutionists are BLIND, wrapped up in their WISHFUL "thinking" that only material processes made the Cosmos and everything in it. They are comforted by false UNSCIENTIFIC ideas. Mr. Shermer says humans are good at seeing patterns. So they line up everything in the fossils in order and claim the linage is from a proto-cell to humans!!! They claim chaos into order BUT in science class the lesson was ORDER INTO CHAOS....it makes your version IMPOSSIBLE because it goes against the basic fundemental Laws of Physics.
Fact 1: The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics states that entropy, or disorder, will always increases in a closed system. Coincidentally, organisms are open systems. Organisms take in energy and matter from their environment, and then expel it as waste later. When a person eats, they break down the food into its base molecules, and then use these molecule building blocks to construct something else. When you eat meat or something high in protein, you break apart the amino acids and use them to construct your own proteins and enzymes. When you eat carbohydrates, the sugars are broken down and then rebuilt as glycogen and fat, and are stored for later use. Thus a highly ordered macromolecule such as a starch is broken down into disordered individual molecules, and then reconstructed as an ordered molecule once more to suit the body's needs. Each of these steps are facilitated by a variety of chemical reactions, and none of these chemical reactions are 100% efficient. Thus, excess energy is given off as heat, a very "disorderly" form of energy, and from this we get the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics: Entropy, or disorder, will always increase in a closed system. However, humans do not grow steadily warmer and warmer as they age. This is because humans, just like other organisms, are open systems. Humans are capable of interacting with their environment, not just in acquiring the food and proper components required to make their bodies function, but also in excreting waste materials. Thus, humans are able to "shrug off" this excess heat, and remain highly ordered. Thus, living organisms are "islands of order" amongst a sea of disorder. While the overall disorder of the universe might increase due to the heat produced from inefficient reactions in organisms, the organisms themselves remain highly ordered.
Fact 2: Evolution is stupid. Evolution only turns already present genes on and off through random chance. However, new genes are created through mutation. Radiation, high concentrations of ultraviolet light, or other high energy reactions have the capacity to alter the nitrogenous base chains in DNA, and in so doing create new genes. Whether this new gene actually contributes to the organism's capability to survive and reproduce depends on the precise alteration and the environmental circumstances. If an organism's genetic makeup is altered in a manner that turns out to be beneficial, the organism is more likely to survive and reproduce, thus passing this mutation on to the following generations. Macroevolution resulting in different species results from infintesimal changes such as this over the course of many, many years. Thus a fish can give rise to a lizard which can give rise to a mammal, without the need for a designer.
Fact 3: See Fact 1.
Conclusion: You're wrong. Pick up a textbook, and stop trying to twist science to suit your predetermined conceptions of the universe.
Re: Dr Dino
See the "declining magnetic field" section. Wow. The tree rings explanation, all of it, what a bunch of specious crap. It's like the "cult of the anti science'.
actually even if you did not believe in the declining magnetic field as i did several non christian scientists have found that the moon is slowly moving away 3 inches every year and i had to use a calculator to do this but 3 times 4.7 billion(4.7 billion is how old the earth is) is 14'100'000'000 inches then divide by 63'360 that is how many inches in a mile and you get 222'537 this is how many miles back the moon is at the beginning of the earth ,and the moon did indeed exist back then.now the moon is only 250'000 miles away from the earth on average so now for the final calculation we minus 222'537 from 250,000 and we get 27,463 (and we also know that the moon is not moving away because an asteroid hit it because the largest crater on the moon is on the side facing away from the earth) if the moon was this close to the earth and it was this close life could not be sustaind there would be tsunamis huge earthquakes so how long would it be like this it would be like this for about 2 billion years gradually getting better and better until it wouldn't have any affect on earth but if a life form was developing at this time it would be killed and at this time the first air breathing creatures would be developing so i am not saying that this disproves evolution i am just saying that maybe the dating system used by ALL scientists is rong
a serious lack of comprehension regarding thermodynamics. the second law applies to a CLOSED SYSTEM with NO energy entering it or leaving it. we have energy input from the Sun, and from volcanos (to a lesser extent) and such, energy leaving out into space, so there is NO closed system on a local scale. when you have energy being put into the system, local entropy can and does decrease (but the TOTAL entropy of the ENTIRE UNIVERSE increases). The decrease of local entropy when external energy is applied is well observed and established.
nerfninja, the most likely explanation for our Moon is that the earth was struck by a Mars sized object very early in the development of the solar system and the moon coalesced from the resulting debris.
the rate that the moon is receding is affected by our own tides and their effect on the moon, as the moon gets further away, the rate that the moon rcedes is also increasing as the Earth exerts less gravitational influence on it. the Earth has also slowed down its own rotation, estimated to have been about 20 hours per day 400 million years ago. the day was probably about 12 hours when the Earth was first formed. oceans have a very strong effect on the interactions with the moon, and continental drift strongly affects the tidal motion and how it affects the moon also.
so the moon did start quite a bit closer than it is now, and is (very) slowly speeding up in it's gradual escape
The Kind of evolution this person must be talking about is the kind that requires an inteligent designer like his comment , perhaps "SOMEONE" can come up with 'design" skid proof flip flops? Perhaps he's saying he'll sit on the beach and wait for a pair to walk up to him?
Evolution's design, LOL!! I suppose this thought of wrinkles will become more bogus science for all the unintelligent Darweiners to believe. Where's the skid tests on wet tile? How about this thought, wrinkled parts tell the brain its time to get of the tub, slacker!
Evolution is observed and proved. Instead of growing a pair, you should grow a brain. Is observation not proof enough? We can see it with our own eyes is not good enough? Really? Do a little research. It's easy to see in things that have short life span relative to our own. So look at it in things like flys, plants, etc. If our lifespans were a million years, then we could see it in other things, like cows, birds, etc. The only way to see it in something close to your own lifespan is by fossils or recorded history, however, recorded history is too new - only a few thousand years.
Wet tile is a new thing, and so are shoes, so I would not be surprised to see pruned skin go away in a few hundred thousand years.
Most logical would be that it provides better traction (of water) while swimming.
"wet tile", "get out of the tub"... all these are new conditions. There is no harm in being in water for 40 minutes, or even 3 hours, all which produce pruned skin.
If you were smart, you'd be ashamed at how stupid you are. You offer nothing for mankind.
DP
well said, bravo!
And you clearly offer nothing for mankind as your commenting on a thread of flip-flops and arguing about evolution.. seriously? Get a real life.
but that can't be, people have only existed for 6000 years!
(joke)
DP-1888706
"Evolution is observed and proved."
An exception to the scientific process? Science observes and attempts to disprove. It is false science to start with a preconceived notion and use data as "proof" of that idea. It is a logical fallacy. You follow the dots and the dots lead you to the conclusion. The conclusion doesn't lead you to the explanation.
joe, that is an excellent description of "creationism"
It is funny how it is assumed that our body's wonderful characteristics are a design by evolution, when it is a theory that began by a mere chance of events.
Of course, giving credit to an omnipotent creator that has a purpose, might prick the conscience and bring a sense of responsibility and accountability to what else the designer would require of his creation.
What there suggesting in the article isnt such a bad idea. I wonder how long people have been wearing shoes, or sandals or some kind of protection on the feet. Perhaps since mankind started wearing protection on his feet, what we have left over is a soggy mess that doesnt do what it originally did millions of years ago.
homonym abuser - it's they're not there. not picking but a pet peeve.
Its the evolution of language as we speak, or type.
as is evidenced even moreso in the new text speak, or type.
Oh noes! its the grahmer polees, RUN!
I'm not policing or picking but making the point that grammer and spelling is important. I never understood why people take criticism so harshly. Why are people so thin-skinned. Is that the PC world we live in today? Homonym abuse is everywhere. I've even done so on occasion and have been corrected. My last point was this new text-speak is the dumbing-down of this country. Oh well, no more remarks from me on the subject.
I dont care what your english teachers told you, but grammer isnt as important as you think. Language (and grammer) changes over time, just like everything else. And it starts with people like me using shortcuts. Take for example, old kings james bible versus the NIT version.
Not to nitpick, Scott, but it's actually *grammar*. . . But I agree that many of us are much too lazy and sloppy in our writing, these days. (Which, I readily acknowledge, has nothing whatever to do with the article.)
Thats funny, because i was just copying how he spelled it, and assumed it was spelled correctly. But like you said, nothing to do with the subject.
don't forget spellcheckers "correcting" words (the wrong way)
Oskvaaranda,
Do you speak aloud the words as you read? Most of us do not. Therefore, for all of OUR sakes, use the correct words when typing. You aren't Mark Twain. Using the incorrect word only creates confusion for the reader, which makes you look bad. This is a basic rule of communication, regardless of written language, textspeak, mathematics or even oral language. The correct word is important.
For your sake ill try. The important thing is that you can understood what i typed. I hear context clues are the rage.
four ur saik ile tri. thu importint thing iz that u kan understand whut i typtd. I here contekt cloos r thu raje.
Touche Tasha. That's pretty bad that I misspelled a word.
to Eric-Orland: In the context of your statement and this article, the missing designer who made the design would be considered to be the actual process of natural selection (designer) designing the arrangement and make-up of our genetic code (design). Ill try to explain the concept of 'evolution's design'. Evolution consists of selection among individuals based on the relative benefit or detriment of a particular trait. If a gene or genes which conveys the ability for toes to wrinkle slightly in response to water results in an advantage for the individual possesing that gene, then that individual is more likely to survive and pass on his or her genes. When individuals survive and pass on their genes, then over time the population is going to have more and more individuals with that trait. In some cases, the trait which directly or indirectly leads to greater reproductive success is magnified over time and results in a more 'extreme' trait. This might take the form of longer necks (giraffes), shorter stature (pygmy versions of regularly sized animals found in isolated island communities), or lots and lots of wrinkles on your toes. This sort of physical change occurs very gradually over thousands or millions of years by a process of the selection of individuals as outlined above. For this reason, the process of selection might be seen as a type of design, because this process of selecting traits with the most advantage is shaping the blueprint of species. Therefore, the process itself is designing things according to what traits will be of the greatest benefit compared to other alternate traits. When you see the word 'design' it doesnt have to mean something is being created as-is on the spot. In the case of the context of this article, design is refering to the process by which evolution occurs : selection of traits based on their relative advantage to the individual. The scientist being reported on finds this to be an elegant process but is not eloquent enough to adequately explain what he means by his statement. Or possible, he has just not been fully quoted. Because of that, it is not suprising that people might mistakenly find some sort of religious association with the concept of 'the design of evolution'. On the other hand, "intelligent design" is a mostly separate theory which presupposes that some sort of all-knowing creator is controlling the process of evolution. While an argument could be made in support of that theory, it cannot be done conclusively and i realize it is unlikely that you are still reading this. Therefore, we will save that bedtime story for another day. Dont decide you will never understand something, or that because you dont understand something it must be incorrect. Such decisions are unfair to everyone, but most of all to yourself because you cheat yourself out of the chance to learn something.
Perhaps Raf787 should buy a Yugo and report back on how the car's mutations (breakdowns) on the freeway improved its resale value. We expect a full carfax report at the end of the scientific conclusion. After all, we observe such ramdon acts of chaos everyday and I've yet to see a miracle of science fiction improve anything. I like the bedtime story of 'strong delusions', check it out Raf.
Ford model T...Ford mustang...evolution of cars.
You can scratch your head figuring the odds and chances and millions of years it take for this "process", but withought the hands of the potter this creation would have never come into place. and the processes that allow it survive have been there since the very begining..
sorry pair. an individual doesn't evolve. just more ignorance from the creationist crowd...
Oskvaaranda - Model T to Mustang is intelligent design not evolution. Evolution is your Yugo mutating into something else. 100% of the time - something worse.
Iseeconfusedp - I think you missed Raf's nice explanation. An individual does indeed change under the deluded theory, but the timeline is like your chance of winning the lottery. Hence the misinterpretation of the geological column and radio-carbon dating to further the delusion. So quite starring into the three-way mirror.
grow, nowhere did Raf say that an individual evolves, perhaps you need a course in reading comprehension?
the only misinterpretation of the geologic column and radioisotope dating is in self-deluded creationist websites tying desperately to fit square pegs into their theological round holes. (and it always MUST be the "christian" version, NEVER any other creation myth, right?) face it, YEC is a total myth and has nothing to do with the real world.
it would only take something very simple to disprove the intrepretation of the geologic column, and that would be to find something like trilobytes in younger strata than dinosaurs, or dinosaurs in younger strata than mammoths, etc.
it hasn't happened, and with a very high degree of probability , never will.
It is amazing that brilliant people can recognize form and function but fail to appreciate the Designer! Attributing this to evolution is like attributing a watch's perfect ability to keep time to random springs and gears finding each other and encasing themselves in a watch to tick- with no outside help. Why can't we see the big picture? What are we afraid of?-Accountability, responsibility, humility?
looks like the creationists are out early, LOL
Evolution design: If evolution design took care of such small things why did it not evolve to overcome death.
Evolution is just an assumption and theory.
simple, because if things (including us) didn't die, they/we wouldn't evolve.
we live long enough to reproduce, that's all that is needed
Well you can sit and mock or give a logical explanation, and please dont say, "because god said so".
Natural Design or GRAND plan....all I know is the skin does not wrinkle in any way in salt water!! This fact may serve to disprove the whole "skid grippy" theory wrong or it may just prove that the salt content of our bodies is EXACTLY the same as the oceans' and lead another evolutionary crisis debate. Either way, both parties can still throw barbs at each other!! Carry on....
Well i dont know about you, but i prefer fresh water...
Nobody should ever wear flip flops. They are disgusting!! Why on earth would you think other people want to see your nasty feet??!!
OK, so if wrinkles on your fingers and toes develop for traction, what do wrinkles on your face develop for - traction again (to prevent the skin from sliding too far down your body)? ;)
Well i dont know about you, but i prefer fresh water...
Do animals experience this same feature with their toes as well?
If so, then I might agree that this explanation holds water. ;)
But if animals don't experience the same thing, then this theory would further support the idea that humans originated from a species alien to this planet, as opposed to originating from apes or some other animal/creature native to this planet.
I find it interesting that people with severed nerves don't experience wrinkled skin, I had never heard of that before.
Snakes dont have feet, cows have hooves, birds have talons, dogs have paws. We, have feet that wrinkle, oh yeah, and big brains.
There is fascinating truth in this article - that there is a built-in design "that temporarily gives us the equivalent of treaded all-weather tires" and "the channels created by pruney fingers are similar to those that drain rainwater from mountains." Strange. So we have a choice:
Choice #1: Give evolution the credit. But wait! Evolution is the process of time plus chance, with no outside intelligence involved. Oh my. That doesn't make sense, that an intelligent design results from a non-intelligent process. One dare not admit that there is an outside intelligence in the operation of evolution.
Choice #2: Give intelligent design the credit. That means there is an intelligent Designer. Who might that be?
That actually takes less faith than giving evolution the credit. Or shall I say more intelligence!
you forgot selection
The good news is, your choices are unbiased and of equal consideration.
Choice #2.5: Give unintelligent design the credit. Having the Flying Spaghetti Monster design something is much more plausible than all the other options except for evolution.
My toes and fingers don't prune up. I grow webs...
You have 1 of 3 choices. 1. Go see a doctor. 2. Pray to god that it goes away. 3. Or you can embrace it, but i wouldnt suggest going swimming on a first date.
Oskvaaranda, LOL!
but there is a fourth option, pursue an olympic swimming career.
I wouldnt doubt if magnesium was michael phelps.
I remember learning about this in Junior High Science. Osmosis, the transfer of liquid from a small concentration to a large concentration across a permeable membrane. Pretty simple solution from the most Intelligent Designer!
It is fascinating to me how many creationists have no idea what evolution is. Evolution is a fact, natural selection is a theory. Lets break this down. Micro-evolution (fact) is detailing changes within a species. Do some research. This can be seen within a few generations of species. Macro-evolution (theory) is a transition from one species to another. That article has absolutely nothing to do with macro-evolution. Any arguement therein is completely irrelevent to the issue at hand. This is not an issue of whether or not God created the universe (which I believe He did), but an issue of our bodies going through micro changes due to our environment.
Who allowed for or programmed the mechanism for allowable change?
I sure hope the gov't didn't fund such a silly project. But who knows they have been know to fund things like a puppet show in MN:
And what, may I ask, is intelligent about a design that puts nipples on men and puts your butt hole in a place where you can't see to wipe it??
Hot vinyassa yoga! The room is heated and humidified to promote sweating. Those first down-face dogs, lunges and planks are difficult to maintain without toe and hand grip. Once the sweat starts to pour, pruning fingers and toes along with yoga towel, you can "stick" your pose. Some people wet the front and back of their towels to get a grip immediately.
The subject was about pruning, not sweating. Sweating is entirely different. Unless your doing yoga so much that you were in a pool of your own sweat and then started pruning.
Bidet. No comment on the nipples.
Skin definitely wrinkles in salt water.
Thanks for clarifing that, i should be able to sleep better at night now.
None of you are answering the question the author asked. It appears you're all boasting and roasting him and one another about how much you know or think you know about a topic. Evolution, design, religion, science, whatever, this is msnbc.com not a location for definitive fact. You're arguments and points of view will always find someone capable of carving holes in it (you're proof of that). It's entertainment and a thought provoking subject and/or idea. Nothing much more. Shoe companies already take into account creating run off channels on their treads. Capitalizing on the idea by inventing shoes whose tread changes based on terrain conditions - now that would be interesting. Randy Dotinga asked for our personal observations. Well, I've not noticed specifics myself although people often spit on their hands to get a better grip of something (such as a baseball bat) and they use chalk to reduce the moisture content in things like pool cues and bowling balls so I think the observation that friction is created with wet feet and hands against dry surfaces is true - but on a wet surface it might be better to have dry hands and feet. Wet on wet is ideal for things such as the slip-n-slide toy etc. I'll pay more attention to see if and how I benefit from pruney fingers and toes.