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How fingerprints get their one-of-a-kind swirls

The intricate patterns are created during fetal development when fine ridges on the skin form and crash into each other.
  1. Heidi Ledford
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The whorls, arches and loops that make fingerprints unique are produced during fetal development by waves of tiny ridges that form on the fingertip, spread and then collide with each other — similar to the process that gives a zebra its stripes, or a cheetah its spots.

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doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00357-x

References

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