評(píng)論
打印
Prune skin on this Moment of Science At some time, we've all probably taken a long bath or been in the pool for a while, and then notice that parts of the palms of our hands and the bottoms of our feet became wrinkled. This Moment of Science answers two questions about this. Why does it happen? And why doesn't our whole body wrinkle like that?
梅子干皮膚？對(duì)，我們這次的內(nèi)容與皮膚有關(guān)。有時(shí)候，我們可能在浴池或泳池中的時(shí)間較長(zhǎng)，然后，會(huì)發(fā)現(xiàn)手掌和腳底板的皮膚起了褶皺。本次內(nèi)容將對(duì)這一現(xiàn)象做出科學(xué)的解釋。為什么會(huì)發(fā)生這種情況？為什么我們的整個(gè)身體不會(huì)出現(xiàn)褶皺？
The answer lies in the structure of our skin, and that is not the same all over. The outer layer of skin, the epidermis, on our palms and the soles of our feet is thicker than the skin on the rest of our body. When we soak in water, the epidermis all over our body absorb some water and swells. Because the skin on our palms and soles is thicker, it can absorb more water, and therefore, swells more.
答案在于，我們身體各處的皮膚結(jié)構(gòu)并非完全相同。手掌或足底的外層皮膚（真皮）要比身體其它部位的皮膚較厚一點(diǎn)。當(dāng)浸泡在水中時(shí)，外層皮膚會(huì)吸收一些水，然后膨脹。因?yàn)槭终坪妥愕椎钠つw較厚，它吸收的水分更多，因此膨脹得也就越多。
That seems simple enough. But why did ends our fingers and toes wrinkle like black prunes and not the rest of us? Most of our skins absorbs water and swells rather evenly, but there is something different about ends of our toes and fingers -- there is a nail on one side. The ends of the fingers and toes can't swell towards the nails, so the skin bunches up opposite nails on the palm side of our fingers and the sole side of our toes. This bunching up of the skin gives us the wrinkles, prune skin.
道理似乎很簡(jiǎn)單了。但是，為什么手指和腳趾的末端褶皺得像黑色的梅子干，但其它部位則不會(huì)如此呢？原因在于，當(dāng)皮膚吸收水分時(shí)，大部分會(huì)均勻地膨脹，但手指和腳趾的末端結(jié)構(gòu)有點(diǎn)特殊：那里生長(zhǎng)著指甲（趾甲）。當(dāng)吸收水分時(shí)，手指和腳趾末端的皮膚無法向指甲（趾甲）的方向膨脹，因此，那兒皮膚就會(huì)縮成一團(tuán)。結(jié)果，我們看到，指甲（趾甲位置的皮膚會(huì)皺起來，看起來就像梅子干一樣。
