An Idea Regarding the Function of Fingerprints...

[The Night Owl]

After carrying some some grimy records from the basement to the upstairs, I noticed that my fingers started feeling not so clean. There was no dirt visible on my fingers but they definitely felt dirty. I also noticed that my arms felt clean even though they had been in contact with the records as I carried them. That feeling on my fingers got me thinking about an article I had read a while back. The article was about a study which examines and rules out one of the theories proposed to explain the function of fingerprints ( http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8093134.stm). I got to thinking... perhaps our fingerprints function not to help us grip things but rather to alert us to the presence of things gripping us-- things like grime and other substances which might carry pathogens but which aren't necessarily visible. Plausible?

[BrklynLiberal]

1. I would think that the increased surface area that results from all the

indentations would also serve to increase the sensitivity of our finger tips. There must be survival benefits to being able to feel hot, cold, sharp, etc..very quickly.

[jgraz]

2. Except I doubt pre-germ-theory humans felt a compulsion to wash their hands

Post-Pasteur, we've been conditioned against leaving dirt on our hands. When humans were evolving our resistance to disease, do you think we were doing a lot of hand-washing?

[Cirque du So-What]

3. Having dirty hands is an unpleasant sensation

Even in a culture that predated any knowledge of pathogens, the large number of nerve endings in our fingertips - along with the increased surface area provided by the folds of our fingerprints - would prompt people remove perceived debris.

Moses ben Maimon - Maimonides (1135-1204) - devoted an entire chapter to the principles of hygiene in his Mishnah Torah (2nd Law of Torah) in 1199: 'Never forget to wash your hands after having touched a sick person.'

[cambie]

6. Martin Luther

on obsessively washing his hands:
"The more I wash them, the fouler they grow".
He didn't know why, it is just a part of being OCD.

[The Sushi Bandit]

4. Fingerprints are there to reduce friction while holding and touching

this was from a study reported this year.

[WheelWalker]

5. Reduce, or increase?