Our Hair Follicles Transmit Feelings of Touch

Your skin is pretty genius. You can tell the difference between a pinch or a gust of wind—proof that touch “is not yes or no” in your brain, as researchers put it. Now, scientists are starting to discover how the brain deciphers the differences. Neuroscientists at Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine genetically engineered mice by adding fluorescent protein to a nerve cell (C-LTMR) that wraps the spinal cord and skin, and then watched it under a microscope. They discovered that each hair has a specific set of nerve endings associated with it, meaning that every little hair on your body acts like its own sense organ. The nerve endings line up in “columns” along the spinal cord, which likely help the brain register the sensation. How? Only future research knows!