Of all the structures in the human body, none is more intricate than the hand. With its 27 bones, this remarkable network of levers and hinges is strong enough to exert 90 pounds of pressure, yet sensitive enough to perform the most delicate brain surgery. In the course of our lives, we flex and extend our fingers more than 25 million times, yet they rarely feel tired because the muscles that do all the work are in the forearms.

Our fingers vary in strength; the middle digit is the strongest. Even the index finger can perform amazing acts: one circus performer taught himself to balance his entire body weight on the tip of one index finger. Of all the fingers, the most valuable is the thumb, which carries out about 45 percent of the hand's work and helps it to grasp and handle objects. The loss of any finger would handicap the hand, but the loss of the thumb would cripple it.

Beyond mere strength, hands are capable of astonishingly delicate feats. The fingers of a master pianist, for example, can fly across the keyboard at the rate of 30 notes per second. Those of a blind person trained in Braille can discern dots raised only 1/50 of an inch off the page (thanks to the 10,000 nerve endings in each fingertip). It's been estimated that the hands are capable of some 700,000 gestures--more than the number of words contained in the most complete dictionaries of the English language.

Well, that's handy to know, Pin!

(oh, come on! Someone was going to say it! )

Great Post Pin.. Lets all give Pin a hand......

Hooray for Pin! hands

Hello, this is great information.
I just have a question. I know someone who has proven to me (no magic tricks) that he can FEEL colors. Can you explain this?