How do we know?
↻ One of the pages with a moving picture
People moved marbles with wrinkly and with smooth fingers.
- After a long soak in the bath, the skin on your fingertips and toes gets wrinkly.
- It’s not just skin soaking up water. Your nerves tell tiny blood vessels to squeeze, and the skin folds. Fingers with damaged nerves don’t wrinkle!
- The wrinkles may work like treads on tires, helping you grip wet things.
- Scientists think wrinkly toes may have helped our ancestors get a better footing in the rain. They’re still testing why!
People moved marbles from one box to another, with wrinkly and with smooth fingers. Wrinkles helped with wet marbles, but made no difference for dry ones.
In 2013, scientists at Newcastle University in England tested wrinkly fingers. People moved wet marbles 12% faster when their fingers were wrinkly.
Scientists think wrinkly toes may have helped our ancestors get a better footing in the rain.
Wow number
12% In one test, people moved wet marbles 12% faster when their fingers were wrinkly!
Myth or fact?
Fingers wrinkle because skin soaks up water like a sponge. Myth. Scientists once thought so. Now we know nerves control it.
Wrinkly fingers help with dry objects too. Myth. They made no difference for dry marbles.
Think about it
If wrinkles help us grip, why do you think our fingers aren’t wrinkly all the time?
Where in the world?
Newcastle, England where, in 2013, scientists at Newcastle University tested wrinkly fingers — 54.9783° N, 1.6178° W.
Where these facts come from
Every number on page 80, and who measured it
This page tells us about Newcastle's wet-marble test.
January - Press Office — Newcastle University in England
ncl.ac.uk/press/articles/archive/2013/01/getagrip-whywegetwrinklyfingersandtoes.html
We checked it on 31 October 2026
This page is the science paper about wrinkly fingers and wet objects.
Water-induced finger wrinkles improve handling of wet objects — The science paper from Newcastle University about wrinkly fingers, shared by the U.S. National Library of Medicine
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3639753
We checked it on 31 October 2026
This page tells us that wrinkling needs working nerves.
Case of the month: The skin wrinkle test: a simple nerve injury test for paediatric and uncooperative patients — A doctors' article about the skin wrinkle test, shared by the U.S. National Library of Medicine
pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC2464382
We checked it on 31 October 2026
Has this changed?
Yes, this one may change. Scientists are still testing why our fingers wrinkle, and the grip idea is still being checked.
That nerves control the wrinkling is already known.
Words from this page
- nerve
- A thin cord that carries signals between your body and your brain.
- blood vessel
- A tiny tube that carries blood around your body.
- ancestors
- Family members from long ago, such as great-great-grandparents and those before them.
Try it!
Race wet marbles with wrinkly fingers.
1. With a grown-up, put 10 marbles in warm (not hot) water. Time moving them to an empty bowl. 2. After a long bath, when your fingers are wrinkly, try again. 3. Which was faster? (Marbles are not for mouths!)
What happens: you may be a little faster with wrinkly fingers. Try it a few times to be sure!
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