Factoid of the day

Factoid of the day: wrinkly fingers grasp better.
Scientific fallacy of the day: that this is WHY fingers wrinkle
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fromSciTechDaily: Why do fingers wrinkle?

Scientists have discovered the reason why the skin on human fingers and toes shrivels up when soaked in water. Laboratory tests confirmed that wrinkly fingers improve the grip on wet or submerged objects, working away the water like rain treads in car tires.

Actually, they discovered that wrinkly fingers grasp better, but they didn't confirm that this was the REASON that fingers wrinkle.

showing one fact doesn't necessarily prove the second fact.... If this was true, then one would have to propose that people with smooth fingers died off faster/had less evolutionary advantage than those with the gene that allowed fingers to wrinkle, so their theory is not proven. Indeed, I wonder why they released the study showing wrinkly fingers grasp better and then add the claim it is evolutionary without bothering to check if it actually is evolutionary...because they haven't proven this part of their theory. Indeed even the article on Scitechdaily notes:

The scientists will have to check whether wrinkling occurs in other animals, besides humans and macaques.

and no, they haven't checked if our evolutionary cousins the Chimps also had fingers that wrinkle.