What purpose does having swirly bits at the end of our fingers serve?

i’m going to guess that the texture and variation in pressure/contact points on the fingers improves grip and tactile response.

So it’s not so police can catch criminals 😉

There is no “why”

Is it to get those plastic bags for veggies out of the dispenser box at the supermarket?

do identical twins have the same fingerprints ?

No ‘why’? That’d be very dissapointing!

do identical twins have the same fingerprints ?

Nope.

For sensitivity.

so jesus can tell who did it.

It helps grip.

That’s a damn good question. Obviously evolution has found an advantage in it – but it’s not grip(slicks grip better than treaded, except for rain).

it so that we can hold wet stuff then 😀

Koala Bear fingerprints are almost identical to human fingerprints. If that helps?

Logical – but hard to see the evolutionary benefit.

This is the most believable in a quick search:

http://www.physorg.com/news158088270.html

This is the most believable in a quick search:

Or you could have read my answer.

or even mine, the original and still the best 🙂

Well I did read both of your replies – and if you’d quantified them by saying ‘and I’m a fingertip scientiist’ I’d have looked no further.

😉

and Pineapple pickers don’t have fingerprints

Neither do people who slow down belt sanders with their fingertips – care to elaborate bruneep?

Why does my bike have “fingerprints” and it’s grips? For consistent grip in varied conditions? I reckon, based on no knowledge, that my fingers might have a textured end for similar reasons. Perhaps.

Or maybe it’s where the aliens barcoded us.

dont know about you but they help me climb up walls

stuckinarut – Member

Is it to get those plastic bags for veggies out of the dispenser box at the supermarket?

why can’t I get the blasted things open though?? I have to lick my fingers to get any grip on them! 🙁

SteveTB – as a kid I put my finger into the propeller of a model aircraft and neatly (and painfully) removed one of my finger prints. Presumably it didn’t go all the way through the growing layer because the skin did grow back some weeks later – and so did my fingerprint. So perhaps your belt sander’s prints will grow back too – provided they stop playing with abrasives.

RooleyMoor – Wet weather fingerprints. Get those swap things changed for small block 8s.

I have elaborated

I went into bone with a run in with an angle grinder about 15 years ago, there is a scar, yet you can see sort of where the print still is – how does that happan!

Thanks for that bruneep – very interesting. My lips did once bleed when I was quite young after eating pineapple; I always thought it was acetic acid.

Strange you should know that, but glad you did.

🙂

igm – good idea! :-/

So they can identify you on Judgement Day.

Strange you should know that, but glad you did.

He’s a QI fan I reckon.

you’d quantified them by saying ‘and I’m a fingertip scientiist’ I’d have looked no further.

Something I read whilst doing one of my many anat and phys courses.

It’s a bit like the question why do men have nipples?

why do men have nipples

coz we start out as females in early stage of development but our y chromosome kicks in and testosterone reverses nipple/breast development and we are left with our nips

the y chromosome is just an evolutionary modified version of the the x so it stll holds a lot of the same info, its just suppressed by methylation of the dna itself and interaction with certain proteins that arise through a process called imprinting…

ill stop now

OK kimbers explain this ………… how come I’ve got such a tiny index finger, and yet a huge ring finger ?

…….. apart from the fact that I’m a ‘real macho man’

It’s a bit like the question why do men have nipples?

It was supposed to be a rhetorical question! 😉

Well, thankyou all. This has been most enlightening – although I’m still not entirely sure anybody really knows!

When moving the ridges of your fingerprints across a surface, you experiencing a very high-frequency vibration, which adds to your fingers’ sensitivity. Blah.

how come I’ve got such a tiny index finger, and yet a huge ring finger

simple
index finger size is related to penis size and ring finger size is related to the diameter of your anus