Scientists say your skin is much smarter than you think!

Neurons in human skin perform advanced calculations that scientists previously believed only the brain could carry out. These neurons not only send signals to the brain that something has touched the skin, but also process data about the object touching the skin.

Neurons in human skin perform advanced calculations which scientists previously believed that only the brain could carry out, a new study has found.

Researchers from Umea University in Sweden found that neurons in skin not only send signals to the brain that something has touched the skin, but also process geometric data about the object touching the skin.

A fundamental characteristic of neurons that extend into the skin and record touch, so-called first-order neurons in the tactile system, is that they branch in the skin so that each neuron reports touch from many highly-sensitive zones on the skin.

Researchers found that two types of first-order tactile neurons that supply the sensitive skin at our fingertips not only signal information about when and how intensely an object is touched, but also information about the touched object's shape, said Andrew Pruszynski, who is one of the researchers behind the study.

Somewhat simplified, it means that our touch experiences are already processed by neurons in the skin before they reach the brain for further processing, said Pruszynski.