A World at Our Fingertips
Dec 08, 2022 • 10:45 PM UTC
New Jersey, USA
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Non-Living
Bailey
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I conducted this project as part of Professor Pringle's EEB321 class at Princeton University.
One of my best friends comes from a family of beekeepers. She gave me a jar of (delicious) honey a few months back and, originally, I intended to write a post about honey, its ecological importance, how it's processed, and how this refinement impacts the product ultimately consumed by humans.
Given the tone of this introduction, I'm sure you've guessed that I changed course. This is my first Foldscope project and, honestly, I had a lot of fun. However, I did struggle with the slide cover stickers--every time I tried to put one on a slide, I ended up getting my fingerprints all over it! I didn't know what impact this would have on my honey observations, so I just decided to roll with my new samples.
Here are a few pictures of my fingerprints:
One of my best friends comes from a family of beekeepers. She gave me a jar of (delicious) honey a few months back and, originally, I intended to write a post about honey, its ecological importance, how it's processed, and how this refinement impacts the product ultimately consumed by humans.
Given the tone of this introduction, I'm sure you've guessed that I changed course. This is my first Foldscope project and, honestly, I had a lot of fun. However, I did struggle with the slide cover stickers--every time I tried to put one on a slide, I ended up getting my fingerprints all over it! I didn't know what impact this would have on my honey observations, so I just decided to roll with my new samples.
Here are a few pictures of my fingerprints:
(I'm quite happy with how the pictures turned out. They remind me of a planet.)
Fingerprints are mostly made of water, but also include organic components (i.e. proteins, amino acids, etc.), inorganic components (i.e. sodium, potassium, etc.), and environmental contaminants (i.e. food residue, cosmetics, etc.). The lines in these photos are the imprints of friction ridges, the raised parts of the epidermis on my fingers. These friction ridges are dotted with sweat glands and create the pattern of fingerprints.
As a member of the species Homo sapiens , I was born with fingerprints. This isn't unique to Homo sapiens , though--our close relatives chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans all have them too. Curiously, koalas also have fingerprints (an example of convergent evolution, as koalas are marsupials and not primates like us). While there is no consensus as to what exact purpose they serve, the most widespread theories are that they aid in touch perception and that they increase grip. For humans, they also serve a social purpose: identification, most notably at crime scenes.
Other animals have similar structures; dogs and pigs have unique dermal ridges on their snouts, and some South American monkeys (and some Australian arboreal marsupials) have prints on the tips of their tail.
I would be interested to look at prints from different species to investigate how similar they are. It would be fascinating to investigate whether the chemical or physical traces of human fingerprints are clearly distinguishable from the prints of another primate or marsupial.
This project has reminded me of the most important lesson of our EEB321 class: ecology IS everywhere. Inspiration for research can be found anywhere, including within ourselves. We, like any other living thing, are a product of ecological systems and evolutionary history. Right down to our fingertips.
P.S. Here are some of my honey pictures... I don't have much to say about them but I think they look cool!
Fingerprints are mostly made of water, but also include organic components (i.e. proteins, amino acids, etc.), inorganic components (i.e. sodium, potassium, etc.), and environmental contaminants (i.e. food residue, cosmetics, etc.). The lines in these photos are the imprints of friction ridges, the raised parts of the epidermis on my fingers. These friction ridges are dotted with sweat glands and create the pattern of fingerprints.
As a member of the species Homo sapiens , I was born with fingerprints. This isn't unique to Homo sapiens , though--our close relatives chimpanzees, gorillas, and orangutans all have them too. Curiously, koalas also have fingerprints (an example of convergent evolution, as koalas are marsupials and not primates like us). While there is no consensus as to what exact purpose they serve, the most widespread theories are that they aid in touch perception and that they increase grip. For humans, they also serve a social purpose: identification, most notably at crime scenes.
Other animals have similar structures; dogs and pigs have unique dermal ridges on their snouts, and some South American monkeys (and some Australian arboreal marsupials) have prints on the tips of their tail.
I would be interested to look at prints from different species to investigate how similar they are. It would be fascinating to investigate whether the chemical or physical traces of human fingerprints are clearly distinguishable from the prints of another primate or marsupial.
This project has reminded me of the most important lesson of our EEB321 class: ecology IS everywhere. Inspiration for research can be found anywhere, including within ourselves. We, like any other living thing, are a product of ecological systems and evolutionary history. Right down to our fingertips.
P.S. Here are some of my honey pictures... I don't have much to say about them but I think they look cool!
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