Neuroscience

Scientists decipher the fingertip's 'memory'

Scientists have detailed how the activity of tactile neurons in the fingertip in response to an applied force is influenced by the fingertip's mechanical memory of previous forces.

Pediatrics

Children's fingertip injuries could signal abuse

Many children who suffer fingertip injuries have been abused, according to a Rutgers study. The researchers found that children who had a documented history of abuse or neglect were 23 percent more likely to suffer a fingertip ...

Neuroscience

Smartphone thumb skills alter our brains

When people spend time interacting with their smartphones via touchscreen, it actually changes the way their thumbs and brains work together, according to a report in the Cell Press journal Current Biology on December 23. ...

Medical research

Fingernails reveal clues to limb regeneration

Mammals possess the remarkable ability to regenerate a lost fingertip, including the nail, nerves and even bone. In humans, an amputated fingertip can sprout back in as little as two months, a phenomenon that has remained ...

Neuroscience

Decoding touch

With their whiskers rats can detect the texture of objects in the same way as humans do using their fingertips. A study, in which some scientists of SISSA have taken part, shows that it is possible to understand what specific ...

Pediatrics

Family grapples with kids' tech time

(HealthDay)—Every Christmas, Linda Russell knows her three children's wish lists will be chock-full of requests for the latest in electronic toys and gadgets. And, like most parents, she struggles to know when to give in ...

Health

Face-washing tips for healthier-looking skin

Washing your face is as simple as using soap and water, right? Not quite say dermatologists. How you wash your face can make a difference in your appearance.

Psychology & Psychiatry

Fear study reveals mental processes

(Medical Xpress) -- Researchers studying how our minds develop fears in response to danger found that people can quickly learn to recognise a threat even when they are unaware of it.

page 1 from 2

Finger

A finger is a limb of the human body and a type of digit, an organ of manipulation and sensation found in the hands of humans and other primates. Normally humans have five digits, termed phalanges, on each hand (exceptions are polydactyly, oligodactyly and digit loss). The first digit is the thumb, followed by index finger, middle finger, ring finger, and little finger or pinky. Some other languages use the same generic term for all five digits of a hand.

English dictionaries describe finger as meaning either one of the five digits including the thumb, or one of the four excluding the thumb (in which case they are numbered from 1 to 4 starting with the index finger closest to the thumb). Linguistically, it appears that the original sense was to include the thumb as a finger: the word is derived from *‍penkwe-ros[citation needed] (also rendered as *penqrós[citation needed]) which was, in the inferred Proto-Indo-European language, a suffixed form of *penkwe (or *penqe), "five", which has[citation needed] given rise to many Indo-European-family words (tens of them defined in English dictionaries) that involve or flow from concepts of fiveness.

Chimpanzees have lower limbs that are specialized for manipulation, and (arguably) have fingers on their lower limbs as well. The term 'finger' is not applied to the digits of most other animals, such as canines, felines, or ungulates, none of which can engage in fine manipulation with their forelimbs as a primate can.

This text uses material from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA