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Our fingerprints take shape while we are still in the womb. The waves of tiny ridges that form on the fingertips are produced during the third month of fetal development.
By the time a fetus is 17 weeks old, its fingerprints are set.
Whorl fingerprints are spherical or circular patterns that come in many varied forms and make up about 35% of fingerprints.
As a person grows, the prints get bigger while retaining the same pattern.
Fingerprints are detailed and unique. And there are varied patterns of fingertips, primarily three types.
Loop fingerprints can point in the direction of either the little finger or the thumb and are the most general type of fingerprint, at 60% occurrence.
Arch fingerprints appear in wave-like shapes. Tented arches rise to a sharper point than plain arches. Arch fingerprints account for only 5% of the world's population.
Scientists believe that fingerprints may have evolved to play an important role in our sense of touch.
Fingerprint ridges are very useful for determining the texture of things.
When fingertips move across the surface on an object, the ridges rub along it and transmit vibrations to specialized cells within each ridge that are sensitive to mechanical stimuli (the physical forces experienced by cells).
Without fingerprints it would be difficult to read information and interact with whatever you're touching or holding in your hands.
The ridges of fingerprints are also key to our ability to grip and grab objects. Moisture that emerges from the tops of the ridges is important for grip and precision manipulation.
To date, no two people have ever been found to have the same fingerprints—including identical twins.
And no single person has ever been found to have the same fingerprint on multiple fingers.
British civil servant William James Herschel (1833–1917) was the first person to use fingerprints on contracts as a means of positive identification.
In fact, Herschel is credited with being the first European to note the value of fingerprints for identification, recognizing that they were unique and permanent.
The arching, looping and whorling fingerprint shapes can be explained in part by a theory proposed by English mathematician Alan Turing (1912–1954).
Turing hypothesized that the patterns arising in biological systems are due to cells responding to underlying pre-patterns of chemical
concentrations, or morphogens. Diffusion of these chemicals within an embryo induce the spontaneous creation of spatial patterns we see in fingerprints. Scientists call these patterns "Turing patterns."
The Turing pattern that likely creates our fingerprints is also responsible for other patterns occurring in nature, like zebra stripes and leopard spots.
French police officer and biometrics researcher Alphonse Bertillon (1853–1914) capitalized on the fact that each person's body proportions are different. To that effect he applied the anthropological technique of anthropometry to law enforcement, creating an identification system based on physical measurements. The so-called Bertillon System—the forerunner of jailhouse mugshots—was used in Europe and North America for three decades. Then along came fingerprinting.
In 1880, British anthropologist and eugenicist Francis Galton (1822–1911) devised a method for classifying fingerprints.
But it's Britain's metropolitan police chief Edward Henry (1850–1931) who is credited with developing the pioneering work of Galton by establishing the Metropolitan Police Fingerprint Bureau, in 1901.
In 1905, two brothers, Alfred and Albert Stratton, were the first men to be convicted in Britain for murder based on fingerprint evidence gathered at the bureau (pictured). The case was one of the earliest convictions using forensic science. Both men were later executed.
The process of fingerprinting marked a huge step forward in forensic science, and there are various fingerprinting techniques available for law enforcement. Exemplar prints, or known prints, is the name given to fingerprints deliberately collected from a subject. Pictured are exemplar prints taken from Chicago mobster Al Capone.
In forensic science, a partial fingerprint lifted from a surface is called a latent fingerprint. "Dusting for prints" is a familiar term used to describe this technique.
Latent fingerprints are not always clearly visible and their detection may require chemical development through powder dusting, the spraying of ninhydrin, iodine fuming, or soaking in silver nitrate.
These days, an automated fingerprint authentication system employs the use of biometric technology to scan fingerprints. This technique provides additional security at places like hospitals, airports, and other buildings with restricted access.
Mobile devices provide the option of configuring fingerprint access. The method aids in providing unique identifiers from devices based on their attributes.
And just in case you're wondering, it's impossible to completely remove fingerprints. The skin that regenerates on our fingertips is actually pre-programmed with our fingerprints in it, so once any damage is healed, the same exact fingerprints will appear once again.
That said, there is a medical condition known as adermatoglyphia, an extremely rare genetic disorder that prevents the development of fingerprints.
Sources: (Forensic Science Simplified) (Reader's Digest) (Britannica) (Scientific American) (ScienceDirect)
See also: The rarest causes of death in the world
A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges and furrows of a human finger. Each fingerprint is unique and permanent, which means the 8.2 billion people currently on the planet all have a different fingerprint pattern. But how exactly is a fingerprint formed, and why do we have them in the first place?
Click through and find out 30 amazing facts about fingerprints.
30 amazing facts about fingerprints
Why do we have fingerprints, and what makes them so distinctive?
LIFESTYLE Human body
A fingerprint is an impression left by the friction ridges and furrows of a human finger. Each fingerprint is unique and permanent, which means the 8.2 billion people currently on the planet all have a different fingerprint pattern. But how exactly is a fingerprint formed, and why do we have them in the first place?
Click through and find out 30 amazing facts about fingerprints.