10 Facts about fingerprints that will make you take another look at this subject

Everyone knows that fingerprints exist and that they are used on documents and, increasingly, on cell phones, airports and ATMs, for example, as an element of identification. But what else do you know about fingerprints? Did you know that some animals have them? Well, if you didn’t know, read on to learn more about the quirks of this topic.

O awesome.club invites you to know 10 surprising facts about fingerprints that you have probably ignored until now.

Fingerprints develop in the first six months of pregnancy. The lines of the fingers are marked from the pressure made by the baby on what surrounds him. The format is unique and several factors influence the final result. For example, the movement and environment of the womb where the fetus develops.

The absence of fingerprints on the hands and feet is called adermatoglyphics. As the fingerprints on each person are unique, they have always been used as a form of identification — being used nowadays even in ATMs, as we mentioned. But people who suffer from this trait cannot be identified by impressions.

For this reason, this rare condition has been called immigration delay disease 🇧🇷immigrant delay disease, in free translation), that is, since these people do not have a biometric passport to travel, travel outside their countries ends up being more complicated.

Even in the case of identical twins, the fingerprints are not exactly alike. The formation of imprints does not come from DNA, but from factors that occur in the development of the embryo as it grows in the mother’s womb. Two brothers who share the same space can exert different pressures on the fingers, causing divergent alignments between them.

One study tried to detect duplicate patterns, according to sex and blood type, in different fingerprints. Scientists have found that, in men, the shape of the handles is the most common, while in women, the bows predominate. The researchers also concluded that the most repeated pattern was that of the ulnar loops (or loops), characterized by the trace of marks pointing towards the little finger.

After killing her two young children, Francisca Rojas de Caraballo blamed her neighbor, Pedro Ramón Velázquez, for what happened. However, police found a bloodstained fingerprint on the mailbox outside the house, a mark that could only have belonged to the killer. Under the guidance of Juan Vucetich, a Croatian-naturalized Argentine and a pioneer in typing, Buenos Aires police were able to match Francisca’s fingerprints with those on the mailbox, identifying her as the real killer and immediately arresting her.

Few know that humans aren’t the only ones with fingerprints. Yes, there are three more species with this peculiarity: koalas, chimpanzees and gorillas. The University of Adelaide in Australia has discovered how the latter develop their own fingerprints. Being in constant movement in the trees and feeding on eucalyptus leaves, koalas evolved so that their hands adapted to the pressure exerted on the branches and, thus, they also ended up developing toes.

In 2016, a group of archaeologists discovered the oldest human fingerprint in the world, over 1,000 years old. It was found in northern Kuwait on a piece of broken pottery and is estimated to belong to the Stone Age, a period between 8,700 BC to 2,000 BC.

Mark Twain (1835-1910), American writer, was one of the first to think about the possibility of using fingerprints to identify and capture criminals. His interest in using the prints was even mentioned in his books. Life on the Mississippi 🇧🇷Life in Mississippi, in free translation) and Pudd’nhead Wilson and Those Extraordinary Twins published in 1883 and 1894, respectively. But the police did not use this tool until the beginning of the 20th century.

During World War II, the FBI believed that one way to maintain order and surveillance was to collect and record people’s information. To execute this plan, the US agency began collecting the fingerprints of soldiers, agents and workers. By 1943, about 70 million of them had been collected.

Technology is advancing faster and faster and Apple is an example of that. Its fingerprint sensors are able to tell you if the fingerprints belong to a living person or a deceased person. The device uses two mechanisms: one is the sensor that detects the electrical current in the blood and the other uses radio frequency, which perceives the waves emitted by the living tissue.

Teri Horton, a 73-year-old American truck driver, bought a painting at a second-hand store in California for the equivalent of 20 reais, to give as a gift to a friend who was depressed. When she and her friend realized the painting was too big to decorate the house, Horton tried to sell it from his garage. An art teacher who passed by said it could be an original by famous painter Jackson Pollock. The fingerprints on the painting proved that it was an original work, worth the equivalent of 207 million reais.

What other use could be made of fingerprints? Have you ever noticed what your digital type is? Tell us in the comments section.