comprehensive -WSS

comprehensive

author：focus 2025-09-30 05:04:09 - browse：2

Fingernails sometimes fall off when they’re damaged — like if they get stuck in a car door.

That has to do with what’s known as the matrix, the spot at the bottom of your nail that’s responsible for growing your nail. Nails themselves are actually little plates of proteins called keratin. All of those proteins are connected, which is what makes one continuous nail.

When your finger experiences a shock, like getting stuck in a car door, the matrix temporarily pauses the growth of the fingernail. That pause means the proteins are no longer connected. So the new part of the nail that starts growing isn’t connected to the old part that you could already see — which is why your fingernail falls off.

We investigate the strange science of fingernails in the latest episode of our video series “Boddities.”

Newsletters

Sign up for Morning Rounds

Your daily dose of news in health and medicine.

Please enter a valid email address. Privacy Policy

Related: Watch: Episode 12: What would happen to your eyes if you looked at the solar eclipse?

Related: Watch: Episode 11: Why do bug bites cause bumps on the skin?

Related: Watch: Episode 10: What happens when skin gets sunburned?

Related: Watch: Episode 9: Why can’t teeth heal themselves?

Related: Episode 8: What makes metabolism fast?

Previous article： Food as medicine: CMS rules hamper 'prescribing' of fruits, veggies
Next article： Fatty liver disease was alleviated by Lilly’s ‘triple

WSS

Thermo Fisher plant for manufacturing gene therapies to expand

Microbiome research is starting to find links to chronic diseases

Undocumented workers face uncertainty as immigration law takes effect in Florida

Readout LOUD podcast: possible new ALS drug, artificial wombs

Senators: Long

Vertex cell therapy lets patients with type 1 diabetes stop insulin

focus

comprehensive

Sign up for Morning Rounds

Related: Watch: Episode 12: What would happen to your eyes if you looked at the solar eclipse?

Related: Watch: Episode 11: Why do bug bites cause bumps on the skin?

Related: Watch: Episode 10: What happens when skin gets sunburned?

Related: Watch: Episode 9: Why can’t teeth heal themselves?

Related: Episode 8: What makes metabolism fast?

explore

Wildfire smoke exposes gaps in outdoor worker protections

Drug cartel violence flares in western Mexico after vigilante leader's killing

In Memoriam: Notable people who died in 2023

FDA panel to weigh approval of NurOwn, controversial ALS drug

After affirmative action ruling, medical educators look to 'holistic review'

Medical student insurance fails on mental health care coverage

Novavax promises a turnaround & Lilly roils the obesity market

Trump’s hydroxychloroquine hype: a risk to my treatment and to him

George Santos makes 1st court appearance after pleading not guilty to 13 counts

Fatty liver disease was alleviated by Lilly’s ‘triple

Wikipedia

CDC's new outbreak response network to include Northeastern

How AI helped researchers track recovery from depression

Use doctors trained outside the U.S. to ease the physician shortage

Trump’s hydroxychloroquine hype: a risk to my treatment and to him

Use doctors trained outside the U.S. to ease the physician shortage

Penis shrinkage, a side effect of prostate cancer surgery, is temporary

Wikipedia

hotspot

Wikipedia

hotspot