• Question: How do finger nails grow?

    Asked by Hannah to Joe, Jos, Kate, Lisa, Pierre on 18 Nov 2014. This question was also asked by blondie.
    • Photo: Kate Dobson

      Kate Dobson answered on 18 Nov 2014:

      Fingernails are made of keratin, and are the human equivalent of claws and hooves on other animals. Fingernails grow and harden from the base (nail bed). Your nails grow faster in summer and when you’re young…. I can’t really tell you much more as it’s not my area, howevere, seeing as I am a geologist….. did you know that fingernails grow about as fast as the two tectonic plates either side of the Mid Atlantic Ridge are moving appart. So every time you cut your nails, America has got that far further away.

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