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Most people associate fingerprints with crime scenes and solving mysteries, yet they've been with you since before you were born. But how much do you really know about those unique lines and ridges? And why do we even have fingerprints in the first place? A fascinating aspect of the human body, fingerprints are far more than just a means of personal identification—they're a testament to the extraordinary intricacies of human biology and evolution.
Intrigued? Click on for some surprising facts about fingerprints.
There's way more to your fingerprints than their uniqueness and use to detectives. In fact, scientists believe that fingerprints help us improve our grip and also our touch perception.
Fingerprints are tiny ridges in our skin, and the impressions left behind touching something are imprinted from sweat and oil on top of these ridges.
The ridges on the tips of our fingers form in the womb, beginning around 10 weeks gestation. By the time a fetus is around 17 weeks, these unique patterns are fully formed.
Human skin has several layers, and each layer has sub-layers. A developing fetus is constantly stretching these layers, which can snag on each other. Scientists believe fingerprints form when the bottom layer grows at a different rate than the rest of the skin.
Research has shown that ridges in our fingerprints increase our tactile sensitivity.
According to a study published in the Journal of Neuroscience, the ridges of our fingerprints feature finely tuned receptive fields, which may explain the sensitivity of human touch.
According to one study, fingerprints start out looking like the same patches of cells that form hair follicles. But instead of turning into hair follicles, these cells form ridges patterned in whorls and loops due to tiny differences in the expression of the genes responsible for forming skin structures.
Known as adermatoglyphia, this rare genetic disorder causes the failure of ridge formations before birth. The finger pads of people with adermatoglyphia are entirely flat, but, otherwise, people with the condition are healthy.
The different fingerprint shapes can be explained in part by a theory proposed by British mathematician Alan Turing. In the '50s, Turing theorized that substances made by an embryo's cells would promote the formation of a structure, but act with opposing substances that suppress the growth of those structures.
By interacting with one another, these substances could make a pattern that has repeated units with even spacing between them, just like our many fingerprint ridges.
The Turing pattern, which likely creates our fingerprints, is also responsible for other patterns occurring in nature, like zebra stripes and leopard spots.
The scientific name for fingerprints is dermatoglyph. The term comes from the Greek words derma (skin) and glyphe (carving).
Scientists categorize fingerprint patterns as either a whorl, loop, or arch. The arrangement and placement of them are what make your fingerprints unique.
Have you noticed that it's much harder to get a blister on your fingertips or toes? Studies suggest that the ridges may allow our skin to stretch and deform more easily, which can protect it from damage.
Monkeys and apes have fingerprints that function similarly to humans. But the koala, which is a very distant relative to us, is the only other animal that also has fingerprints that look like ours.
As you get older, it's natural for your skin to change. But wrinkling doesn't come for your fingertips, which means they remain the same since they were formed.
Even in death, our fingerprints stick around, which makes them very helpful in identifying bodies.
Hard and rough tactile work like bricklaying, and chemotherapy drugs like capecitabine, can erode and even erase fingerprints.
Fingerprints are unique to each individual, and no two people on the planet have the same fingerprint pattern—not even identical twins.
Back in ancient Babylon, you could use a fingerprint to seal an agreement. This suggests people living under the reign of Hammurabi understood the uniqueness of fingerprints.
Before the advent of fingerprint identification, law enforcement agencies used a variety of methods to identify criminals. The Bertillon System, developed by French anthropologist Alphonse Bertillon in 1879, was a technique for describing individuals using photographs and measurements of specific physical characteristics. In the early 1900s, fingerprint identification began to replace the Bertillon System.
The first case ever to use fingerprints to convict a criminal was a murder trial in Argentina in 1892. The police discovered a bloody fingerprint on a door frame and analyzed it to identify the murderer.
When examining fingerprints, experts attempt to match as many points of comparison as possible, but in the US there's no minimum for a match. However, many other countries have set standards for what constitutes a positive identification. A 2011 study found a false positive rate of 0.1%.
Two of the author’s books, 'Life on the Mississippi' (1883) and 'Pudd'n Head Wilson' (1893), feature the use of fingerprints to nab criminals. However, US officials wouldn't implement fingerprinting practices until the early 20th century.
Wartime vigilance meant that the FBI was collecting more fingerprints from soldiers, foreign agents, military suppliers, and potential spies. By 1943, the collection included more than 70 million fingerprints.
In 1948, a shocking murder of a three-year-old girl inspired British police to demand fingerprints from over 40,000 men. But even with all those prints, they failed to find a match. It wasn't until they tracked down the 200 men who had failed to produce prints that among them they found their culprit.
In the US, if you've ever applied for a teaching job, the police force, or any government position, the FBI has your fingerprints. In 2015, the agency announced that they were melding their criminal and civil fingerprint databases.
Because fingerprints are to some extent influenced by genetics, they can be used to diagnose certain medical conditions, such as Down syndrome. People with Down syndrome typically have a characteristic fingerprint pattern that includes fewer loops and more arches and whorls.
Law enforcement agencies use fingerprints in a variety of ways, such as to identify criminals who have left their fingerprints at a crime scene. But they're also used to identify victims, like those who've been killed or injured in a homicide or assault.
Sources: (Mental Floss) (Reader's Digest)
See also: The Lindbergh baby kidnapping: America's most notorious crime
Surprising facts about fingerprints, and why we even have them
Did you know any of these fingerprint facts?
LIFESTYLE Curiosities
Most people associate fingerprints with crime scenes and solving mysteries, yet they've been with you since before you were born. But how much do you really know about those unique lines and ridges? And why do we even have fingerprints in the first place? A fascinating aspect of the human body, fingerprints are far more than just a means of personal identification—they're a testament to the extraordinary intricacies of human biology and evolution.
Intrigued? Click on for some surprising facts about fingerprints.