[pittsburgh]

Not everyone is gripped by the new theory. "This hypothesis is unjustified", says Xi Chen, a biomechanical engineer at Columbia University in New York. Chen thinks that the wrinkles have a simpler cause: when fingers are immersed in hot water, the blood vessels tighten and the tissue shrinks relative to the overlying skin. This contraction causes the skin to buckle. "It's a classic mechanics problem," he says.

Ugh. Explaining the mechanism behind a behavior is not an argument against its purpose!

Scientist A: I think polar bears evolved white fur so they'd be camouflaged in the snow.

Scientist Crazy Pants: No silly, polar bears have white fur because their hair follicles contain keratin and are hollow.

Scientist A: I'm going to kill you.

[flashingleds]

I completely see your point, and in many cases I agree with you. But there is sometimes a tendency for evolutionary biologists to assign deeper reasons to things that are just a consequence of physics. Occam's razor and all that.

In this particular case that fact that the phenomenon is not present when the nerves are severed does present a pretty relevant argument against simple biomechanics.