Latest news with #GuyGerman
The Independent
9 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
New research explains why wrinkles develop with age
Scientists at Binghamton University have experimentally shown that skin wrinkles as it ages due to a process where it stretches laterally and then contracts, forming creases. Associate Professor Guy German explained that the skin's mechanical properties degrade with age, causing increased lateral stretching driven by inherent forces within the skin. The research involved using a low-force tensometer on skin samples from individuals aged 16 to 91, providing experimental evidence for previously theoretical models of skin aging. This new finding complements existing knowledge that genetics, disease, sun exposure, and repeated muscle movements also contribute to the formation of wrinkles. Published in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, the study did not investigate methods to prevent these newly identified forces, though external factors like sun damage are acknowledged.
The Independent
14 hours ago
- Health
- The Independent
Science has proven why your skin wrinkles. Here is what you need to know
Researchers finally know why our skin wrinkles over time - and Silly Putty can help explain it. Scientists at New York's Binghamton University say experimental evidence shows that it's a similar process to stretching out a favorite hoodie or t-shirt from overuse. Essentially, aging skin stretches in one direction, contracts in another, and then collapses. As you age, the contraction gets bigger, resulting in the formation of the skin folds and creases. 'If you stretch Silly Putty, for instance, it stretches horizontally, but it also shrinks in the other direction — it gets thinner,' Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Guy German, explained in a statement. 'That's what skin does, as well.' Wrinkles start to appear after around the age of 25 years old, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Scientists have long believed that skin wrinkles due to genetics, the effects of disease, and damage from the sun. As you get older, your skin cells are replaced at a slower rate, causing the skin's outer layer to thin and forming wrinkles. Lines in the face, including forehead and frown lines, are largely out of our control, as they're caused by repeated muscle movements. Previous studies, using computational models, have also shown changes in the mechanical properties such as the elasticity and structure of the skin's middle layer during aging. The layer, which contains the proteins elastin and collagen, is the home to hair follicles, blood vessels, and sweat glands. Until now, those changes had never been proven experimentally. 'When I got into this field, that was one of my goals – can I figure out aging?' said German. 'Because if I look at the TV, the radio, online, at shops, I'm being told 1,000 different things about how to improve my skin health, and I want to know what's right and what isn't.' To reach these conclusions, German and his team used a low-force tensometer to stretch out seven tiny strips of skin from people between the ages 16 through 91, simulating the forces the skin naturally experiences. The tensometer tests the maximum force a material can withstand while being pulled or stretched before breaking. The skin was collected through elective surgery or tissue from cadavers. They found that the skin has one set of mechanical properties when you're young. As you age, things get a bit 'wonky,' German noted. 'Things degrade a bit, and it turns out the skin stretches laterally more, which causes the actual wrinkles that form,' said German. 'And the reason why that exists in the first place is that your skin is not in a stress-free state. It's actually stretched a little bit. So there are inherent forces within your skin itself, and those are the driving force towards wrinkles.' The research, which didn't delve into how these forces could be halted, was published recently in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. Of course, there are other things that we know affect the skin that can contribute to appearance over time. Spending too much time outside can result in a nasty sun burn, as well as age the skin prematurely with the same effect as aging naturally. 'If you spend your life working outside, you're more likely to have more aged and wrinkled skin than those who are office workers, for example,' German warned.
The Hindu
27-05-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
Fingerprints may also wrinkle uniquely
We use many features of our bodies to identify ourselves in government records. Fingerprints in particular are widely used, from unlocking phones with sensors to validating Aadhaar cards. But fingerprints can also be fickle. For example, if you spend an hour in the pool, a fingerprint sensor may no longer be able to read yours. This is because wrinkles will have formed on your fingertips. Unlike raisins, which swell in water, the skin on our fingers contracts, creating a wrinkling pattern on the tips of our fingers. The discovery of this mechanism over two decades ago challenged the idea that wrinkles form when the skin on the finger swells. Upon further probing, scientists found that the shrinking may have evolved to help humans grip objects better underwater. The wrinkling happens because when you are in water, the nerves in your fingertips send signals to the brain, which asks the blood vessels in the fingertips to contract. When Binghamton University associate professor of biomedical engineering Guy German wrote about this for a children's science magazine, a curious student asked: 'Do the wrinkles always form the same way?' This led him to investigating whether the wrinkled pattern is as unique as the fingerprint. In a study published in May in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, German and graduate student (recently graduated) Rachel Laytin reported just that. The team found that the pattern is the same for an individual regardless of how many times it is forced to wrinkle. In their test, team members immersed hands in 40° C water for 30 minutes. Then they mapped the wrinkles and compared them to patterns formed 24 hours later, when the test was performed again. There were only a few small differences. While fingerprints are two-dimensional motifs, wrinkling patterns are three-dimensional because they have trough-like low points and groove-like high points. Fingerprints are personal and unique. Even identical twins do not have the same fingerprint. What explains the near-uniqueness of wrinkling patterns? If wrinkles occur because blood vessels beneath the skin have been constricted, then the network of these blood vessels must be unique in all of us. According to German, 'The size and distribution of blood vessels is well known to vary across individuals. However, not enough studies have been performed to definitively say they are different for all humans.' If the wrinkles can be used to identify people, it could be used in place of fingerprints, too, especially when law enforcement officials have to identify cadavers found in water, and to quickly identify victims following water-based disasters like floods and tsunamis. One gap is that there doesn't seem to be a relationship between wrinkle patterns and fingerprints. Until such a mapping is found, the wrinkle pattern will constitute a separate instrument of identification — something government agencies could record after collecting one's fingerprints as well. Shrivaishnavi Ranganathan is a science-educator-turned-writer.
Gizmodo
17-05-2025
- Health
- Gizmodo
Your Pruney Fingers After After a Bath Always Wrinkle the Same Way, Study Reveals
Pruney fingers and toes after a long time in the pool or the bathtub are one of those things we all expect but couldn't explain scientifically until recently. In 2023, Binghamton University biomedical engineer Guy German and colleagues found that this happens because the blood vessels in our digits contract when we spend too much time in water. Then a kid asked a brilliant question that triggered a whole new research project. 'A student asked, 'Yeah, but do the wrinkles always form in the same way?' And I thought: I haven't the foggiest clue!' German explained in a Binghamton University statement. 'So it led to this research to find out.' German and Rachel Laytin, a former graduate researcher at the university's Biological Soft Matter Mechanics Laboratory, revealed that the answer is, simply put, yes: pruney fingers always seem to wrinkle along the same patterns. They detailed their work in a study published in February in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials. The two researchers photographed study participants' fingers after they had been immersed in water for half an hour, then repeated the process at least 24 hours later. They compared the pruniness in the two images, looking for similarities, and found that the 'topography' of the wrinkles was the same across both immersions. The blood vessels in our fingers and toes 'don't change their position much—they move around a bit, but in relation to other blood vessels, they're pretty static,' German said. 'That means the wrinkles should form in the same manner, and we proved that they do.' The research also confirms something people have observed for decades: Individuals with median nerve damage—injury to a major nerve in the hand—don't get wrinkles after prolonged water exposure. 'One of my students told us, 'I've got median nerve damage in my fingers.' So we tested him—no wrinkles!' German said. While the recent study was conducted to answer a child's relatively simple question, the findings could have important implications for forensics, particularly in identifying fingerprints at crime scenes or bodies recovered from water. German explained that his father, a former U.K. police officer, encountered some of these difficulties while on the job. As such, 'biometrics and fingerprints are built into my brain,' he added. 'I always think about this sort of stuff, because it's fascinating.' It might be time to add pruney prints to law enforcement's biometric database.
Daily Mail
14-05-2025
- Health
- Daily Mail
Scientists reveal the real reason why your fingers wrinkle when you soak in the bath
It's a phenomenon we're all familiar with. You go for a swim, or enjoy a relaxing soak in the bath, and soon enough your fingers and toes go wrinkly. But have you ever wondered why this happens? A common misconception is that our fingers wrinkle due to swelling triggered by water absorption. Now, scientists have confirmed that this isn't the case – instead, it's all down to our blood vessels. Guy German, an associate professor in the department of biomedical engineering at Binghampton University, New York, recruited three volunteers to soak their fingers for 30 minutes. His team annotated the patterns of looped peaks and valleys that formed on the sodden skin. They discovered that these patterns mostly repeated themselves when they were soaked again 24 hours later. 'Often people assume that these winkles form because skin absorbs water, which makes it swell up and buckle,' he told The Conversation. 'To be honest, I did too for a long time.' However, it turns out it's actually our autonomic nervous system at work. This controls our involuntary movements such as breathing, blinking and our heart beating – as well as how our blood vessels contract and relax. Normally temperature, medication and what we eat and drink can influence how they behave. 'This contraction of your blood vessels is also what causes the skin to wrinkle after a lengthy swim,' Dr German said. 'When your hands and feet come into contact with water for more than a few minutes, the sweat ducts in your skin open, allowing water to flow into the skin tissue. 'This added water decreases the proportion of salt inside the skin. 'Nerve fibres send a message about lower salt levels to your brain, and the autonomic nervous system responds by constricting the blood vessels. 'The narrowing of the blood vessels causes the overall volume of skin to reduce, puckering the skin into these distinct wrinkle patterns. 'It's like how a dried-out grape becomes a wrinkled raisin – it's lost more volume than surface area.' He explained that submerged fingers usually reproduce the same wrinkly pattern because blood vessels 'don't change their position much'. The experiments, published in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials, also confirmed another theory – that wrinkles don't form in people who have nerve damage in their fingers. Dr German also revealed another advantage to wrinkled fingers and toes – grip. Researchers have found wrinkled skin can provide more grip underwater compared to unwrinkled, smooth skin. This could make walking along an underwater surface easier, with less likelihood of slipping.
