Prune Fingers

I cannot believe I have been writing these columns for two years. I write about my family, friends, experiences and things that interest me. I am somewhat surprised that I have not run out of things to discuss. It is actually quite the opposite.

There are many questions I have that I look forward to learning and writing about. The concept of learning is a curious one. We all do it differently and sometimes we learn in ways we may not have expected. I recently learned a couple of things as a result of a mistake I made.

In my last column I wrote how touch screens work and I was incorrect when I wrote potassium was negative. It is actually positive, which was brought to my attention by a couple of friends.

This mistake reminded me how important it is to check not just one source but as many as you can. If I would have done a little more research, I would have found that it is actually an ion gradient that operates the sodium potassium pump.

The other lesson was just how great the power of curiosity can be. Being wrong made me more curious and left me wanting to learn more. As a result I found out some really interesting things I would not have known otherwise. It is this curiosity that drives my daughters’ learning and my attempts to find content for the columns.

My daughter Marley and I were swimming last week and we noticed, after being in the water for awhile, our fingers no longer looked like fingers, but rather like raisins. Of course I have seen this many times in my life, but it was Marley who pointed it out and asked me why it happened. I could not answer her so I am going to attempt to answer it for her now.

The outer layer of our skin, or the epidermis, produces an oily substance called sebum to moisten and protect our skin. It accomplishes this very effectively except when too much of it has been washed off — like overexposure in water. When the sebum is washed off, water can penetrate the skin and cause it to be waterlogged, which causes it to swell, unlike grapes, which dehydrate and wrinkle.

Interestingly, no one really knows why our fingers wrinkle. Some speculate it is because once the sebum is washed away, the dead skin cells start to soak up water. Because the epidermis and the layer of skin below it — dermis —  are attached to one another it does not blow up like a balloon. Instead the skin folds to allow for the excess water, creating the wrinkled look.

Vasoconstriction, or the narrowing of blood vessels, is another explanation scientists are currently studying to determine its role with raisin fingers.

All of this reminds me how great science is in that if there is something we want to know, we can find the answer to it. I know this has given me the ability to answer Marley’s question about raisin fingers!