LONDON NOV 26: Palmists participate in Welcome Collection ‘Hands’ event!

Hands event at 'Welcome Collection' (Nov 26, London)

Later today (November 26) the ‘Welcome Collection’ in London presents a ‘Hands’ event where you can get a palm reading! Imagine… how would your life look like without your hands? We sense, create and communicate with our hands. A social event for the incurably curious and celebrate these vital parts of our bodies across four floors of Wellcome Collection!!

From medicine to mesmerism, magic to mannerisms, visitors will find out about the curious history of digits, palms, fingers and thumbs, and put their own to use, as we celebrate the organs that shape the world around us. We will have scientists, artists, palmists and magicians at hand for discussions, performances and, of course, hands-on activities, all designed to make us look afresh at our body. ‘Manipulate’, ‘manoeuvre’ and ‘manufacture’ are all words deriving from the Latin word ‘manus’, meaning hand. These creative appendages allow us to make, touch and feel, but they also hold mystical and cultural significance. For one night only, visitors can explore a digital age that goes back millennia. 

INCLUDING: 

• Revel in the mystery of hands with palmistry and neuroscience illusions.
• Try out some nail art.
• Get dexterous with games and computers from different ages – and paper, scissors, stone.
• Enjoy an installation produced by young people from HCA, Coram’s Fields, KCBNA and artist Elaine Duigenan.
• Try out some surgeon’s tools, and see how steady your hands are.
• Explore the wonders of handwriting in the Wellcome Library, and meet a palaeographer and a graphologist.
• Play a piano and see your digits up close.
• Enjoy the physical theatre performance of The Articulate Hand with Andrew Dawson. Performances start at 20.00 and 21.45. Tickets are available on the night of the event only.
• Hear from evolution expert Christophe Soligo on the difference between the hands of apes and humans. Tickets are available on the night of the event only.
• Chris McManus will uncover the science of left and right handedness. Tickets are available on the night of the event only.

LOCATION: 183 Euston Road, London (nov 26, 19:00 – 23:00) 

It’s a FREE event, so anyone can drop in anytime!!

A discussion about more details of this ‘hands’ event is available at the Modern Hand Reading Forum.

César Baldaccini presents an ode to the thumb: ‘le pouce’!

César Baldaccini presents an ode to the thumb: le pouce.

César Baldaccini presents an ode to: ‘the thumb’ [le pouce]: “The hand without a thumb is at worst nothing but an animated fish-slice, and at best a pair of forcepts whose points don’t meet properly. Whithout the thumb the hand is put back 60 million years in evolutionary terms to a stage when the thumb hand no independent movement and was just another digit.” Quote by: John Napier

In the summer of 2008 one hundred works of the French sculptor César Baldaccini were exhibited from early July till the end of october at ‘la Fondation Cartier’ for Contemporary Art, featured by Jean Nouvel, architect of the building and friend of the famous artist. The visitors were able to discover many of César’s famous thumbs, made by the artist with various materials including: bronze, Baccarat crystal, stainless steel, aluminum and pink marble. MORE ABOUT THE THUMB: • Ode to the thumb – sculpute by César Baldaccini: ‘le pouce’ • Hand art: thumb, finger & hand sculptures • The human thumb: differences between men & women • The culture of Palmistry: news & research • More finger length stories!

The 2 basic functions of your fingerprints: ‘finger grip’ + ‘touch filter’!

Fingerprints provide finger-grip + a touch-filter.

The function of fingerprints: ‘finger grip’ + ‘touch filter’: Many palmists & hand analysts including the fingerprints in a hand reading. But what is the basic function of our fingerprints really? Researchers from Paris (France) have recently presented new evidence that your fingerprints not only provide ‘finger-grip’, but the ridges also function as a filter for the human touch!

The word ‘fingerprints’ refers to the impressions made by the skin ridges on the fingers & thumbs – by the way: palms can leave the same impressions: ‘palmprints‘. The major function of these skin ridges is to provide ‘friction’, or ‘traction’, when we grasp objects in daily life. And as a consequence because of the presence of skin ridges on our fingers & palms, objects held in our hands do not slip through our fingers. For many years scientists believed that the fingerprints (skin ridges) have a second function: the enhancement of our sense of touch. But untill recentely there was hardly any hard evidence for this assumption. But times have changed since january 2009: French physicists at the ‘École Normale Supérieure‘ in Paris have presented new research. They found that the skin ridges (fingerprints) also amplify / filter vibrations triggered when our fingertips brush across an uneven surface. These processes help transmiting the signals of ‘touch’ to deeply embedded nerves involved in fine texture perception. Some facts reported by the French fingerprint research: • The researchers report that certain vibrations from the patterned fingertip are 100 times stronger than those from the smooth fingertip. • The distinctiveness of fingerprint patterns from one person to the next does NOT(!) seem to have an effect on filtering capabilities – so regarding the sensitivity for ‘finger-touch’ it hardly makes any difference what type of fingerprints you have! • The research was done with an ‘artificial fingertip’ – the first ever presented in the world! READ FURTHER ABOUT RELATED FINGERPRINT TOPICS: Fingerprints provide ‘finger-grip’ + a ‘touch-filter’ News about fingers & fingerprints The history of fingerprints & dermatoglyphics How the pinky finger relates to autism Articles about What your finger length may reveal