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From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.<\/p>\n
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.<\/p>\n
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.<\/p>\n
Your support makes all the difference.<\/strong><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nRead more<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/button><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nResearchers finally know why our skin wrinkles over time – and Silly Putty can help explain it. <\/p>\n
Scientists at New York\u2019s Binghamton University say experimental evidence shows that it\u2019s a similar process to stretching out a favorite hoodie or t-shirt from overuse. Essentially, aging skin stretches in one direction, contracts in another, and then collapses. As you age, the contraction gets bigger, resulting in the formation of the skin folds and creases.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you stretch Silly Putty, for instance, it stretches horizontally, but it also shrinks in the other direction \u2014 it gets thinner,\u201d Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Guy German, explained in a statement. \u201cThat\u2019s what skin does, as well.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wrinkles start to appear after around the age of 25 years old, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Scientists have long believed that skin wrinkles due to genetics, the effects of disease, and damage from the sun. As you get older, your skin cells are replaced at a slower rate, causing the skin\u2019s outer layer to thin and forming wrinkles. Lines in the face, including forehead and frown lines, are largely out of our control, as they\u2019re caused by repeated muscle movements. <\/p>\n
Previous studies, using computational models, have also shown changes in the mechanical properties such as the elasticity and structure of the skin\u2019s middle layer during aging. The layer, which contains the proteins elastin and collagen, is the home to hair follicles, blood vessels, and sweat glands. Until now, those changes had never been proven experimentally. <\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>Researchers say they now know how wrinkles form as we age. The process is similar to stretching Silly Putty (Getty Images\/iStock)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\u201cWhen I got into this field, that was one of my goals \u2013 can I figure out aging?\u201d said German. \u201cBecause if I look at the TV, the radio, online, at shops, I\u2019m being told 1,000 different things about how to improve my skin health, and I want to know what\u2019s right and what isn\u2019t.\u201d<\/p>\n
To reach these conclusions, German and his team used a low-force tensometer to stretch out seven tiny strips of skin from people between the ages 16 through 91, simulating the forces the skin naturally experiences. The tensometer tests the maximum force a material can withstand while being pulled or stretched before breaking. The skin was collected through elective surgery or tissue from cadavers.<\/p>\n
They found that the skin has one set of mechanical properties when you\u2019re young. As you age, things get a bit \u201cwonky,\u201d German noted.<\/p>\n
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open image in gallery<\/span><\/button><\/p>\n<\/div>Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering Guy German explained that there are inherent forces within the skin that drive wrinkle formation. He said the skin is actually already stretched a bit, and stretches more laterally over time (Getty Images\/iStock)<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\u201cThings degrade a bit, and it turns out the skin stretches laterally more, which causes the actual wrinkles that form,\u201d said German. \u201cAnd the reason why that exists in the first place is that your skin is not in a stress-free state. It\u2019s actually stretched a little bit. So there are inherent forces within your skin itself, and those are the driving force towards wrinkles.\u201d<\/p>\n
The research, which didn\u2019t delve into how these forces could be halted, was published recently in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials<\/em>.<\/p>\nOf course, there are other things that we know affect the skin that can contribute to appearance over time. Spending too much time outside can result in a nasty sun burn, as well as age the skin prematurely with the same effect as aging naturally.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you spend your life working outside, you\u2019re more likely to have more aged and wrinkled skin than those who are office workers, for example,\u201d German warned. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Your support helps us to tell the story From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it’s investigating the financials of Elon Musk’s pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, ‘The A Word’, which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging. At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story. The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it. Your support makes all the difference. Read more Researchers finally know why our skin wrinkles over time – and Silly Putty can help explain it. Scientists at New York\u2019s Binghamton University say experimental evidence shows that it\u2019s a similar process to stretching out a favorite hoodie or t-shirt from overuse. Essentially, aging skin stretches in one direction, contracts in another, and then collapses. As you age, the contraction gets bigger, resulting in the formation of the skin folds and creases. \u201cIf you stretch Silly Putty, for instance, it stretches horizontally, but it also shrinks in the other direction \u2014 it gets thinner,\u201d Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering, Guy German, explained in a statement. \u201cThat\u2019s what skin does, as well.\u201d Wrinkles start to appear after around the age of 25 years old, according to the Cleveland Clinic. Scientists have long believed that skin wrinkles due to genetics, the effects of disease, and damage from the sun. As you get older, your skin cells are replaced at a slower rate, causing the skin\u2019s outer layer to thin …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":3924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2],"tags":[],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3923"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3923\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/3924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.seekyourlove.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}