What Are Nails For On Humans

Always wonder why yous take fingernails?

(bigstock)

The manus is i of the most amazing parts of the homo trunk. Y'all may not accept studied this yet in school, just the homo paw has something called "opposable thumbs." This means nosotros can utilise our thumbs and fingers to catch and manipulate objects. Chimpanzees and other large primates have thumbs that resemble ours, but their thumbs are positioned in such a way that they can't grab objects the fashion nosotros do. This power is essential for being able to brand and use circuitous tools.

Just what about fingernails? Although modernistic humans may take them for granted, fingernails are of import for our day-to-24-hour interval actions. They help us dig, open things and even scratch an crawling. Fingernails are fabricated from a tough protein called keratin. (Primates aren't the only animals that have establish a employ for keratin; hooves, horns and claws are also fabricated from this substance.)

Keratin gives hair and the outer layer of skin its strength. The reason fingernails are tougher than hair and skin is considering the keratin fibers that brand up nails are more than dense (packed together). Keratin also repels water. That's why you don't swell up similar a sponge when yous get swimming or take a bath!

Hither are some other interesting tidbits about fingernails.

Despite what you may hear, white spots in fingernails are not caused by not having enough calcium. Instead, they are the result of your hurting the blast. Throughout the solar day, your fingernails get banged and squeezed in various means. (Most of the time, you will not notice when this occurs.)

Bitter your fingernails is one of the most common habits in people, especially kids. No one knows why it's and so tempting to chew on your fingernails, but I suspect parents have been bugging their kids to stop it for centuries. What many parents may not know is that nail bitter "runs in families." That means if you lot bite your fingernails, there's a good chance i of your parents did the same affair when they were kids. However, even if this is true, it's still not a good idea to seize with teeth your nails. Doing so can harm the enamel of your teeth and may cause an infection in your finger.

If you bang your fingernail actually difficult, you lot may develop a blood clot nether the nail. While this is not unsafe, information technology hurts like heck. If the hematoma is large, doctors may treat it by making a tiny pigsty in the nail to drain the blood. This relieves the pressure (and the pain) until the injury heals.

Of grade, any article on fingernails would exist incomplete without saying something about nail polish. The practice of decorating fingernails seems to engagement to the time of the Incas well-nigh 600 years ago. The odour of wet blast polish can give you a headache, but it's not dangerous to use. However, repeatedly using nail polish may cause your fingernails to turn a yellow colour.

— Howard J. Bennett

Bennett, a Washington pediatrician, is the author of the Max Archer, Kid Detective series. His next volume, "The Case of the Recurring Stomachaches" will be published in May.

Nosotros are a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for u.s.a. to earn fees past linking to Amazon.com and affiliated sites.