Sep 1, 2006
Ask Jeeves about science
Here’s a top listing of questions that bring readers to sciencebase from the Ask Jeeves search engine. We cannot promise to answer them all here, but search the site and you may find enlightenment or at the very least some factlets of even more interest.
How old was Einstein when he wrote his papers on relativity?
When were the largest glaciers in history?
Where can I find some wow facts about sodium?
When Mars will look as large as the full Moon to the naked eye?
How much does the Japanese government spend on computers?
What planet is most like Earth?
How many barrels of oil do Americans use every day?
What is the width of a dime?
Why can’t frogs smoke?
How far is Sedna from the sun?
How do humans recognize faces?
What killed Otzi the iceman?
Where is the Earth’s crust thickest?
Not as far as I know, but you’re physician would be able to advise you professionally.
Do you ever give chemotherapy for hepatitis?
The usual explanation is about cells on the surface of the skin absorbing water through osmosis, swelling and causing the underlying layer to buckle. This is now known not to be true. As long ago as 1935, scientists knew that the fingers of people with median nerve palsy do not wrinkle and go “pruney”, which suggests that a mechanism associated with vasoconstriction (blood vessel narrowing) is to root cause.
From Wikipedia: Water probably initiates the wrinkling process by altering epidermal electrolyte homeostasis as it diffuses into the porous skin of the hands and soles via their many sweat ducts. Altered epidermal electrolyte homeostasis would lead to a change in membrane stability of the surrounding dense network of nerve fibers and trigger increased vasomotor firing with subsequent vasoconstriction. Vasoconstriction, through loss of volume, leads to negative digit pulp pressure resulting in a downward pull on the overlying skin, which wrinkles as it is distorted.
Finger wrinkling is now used as a simple test for nerve damage and vasoconstriction.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wrinkle_(skin)#Pruney_fingers
why does our skin go soft and wrinkly after soaking in water a while?