(via SciShow) Researchers were inspired by a certain purple villain to study the physics of finger snapping, and they found that the mundane hand motion is actually quite an impressive feat.

The footage reveals the extreme speed at which the gesture occurs, and shows that friction plus the compressibility of the finger pads are key to humans’ ability to snap properly, researchers report ...

It all happens in a snap. New high-speed video exposes the blink-and-you’ll-miss-it physics behind snapping your fingers. The footage reveals the extreme speed at which the gesture occurs, and shows ...

The snapping of a finger was first depicted in ancient Greek art around 300 B.C. Today, that same snap initiates evil forces for the villain Thanos in Marvel’s latest Avengers movie. Both media ...

Karen Hopkin: This is Scientific American’s 60-Second Science. I’m Karen Hopkin. Doing science isn’t easy. It takes an enormous amount of time and energy to collect and analyze data. At least, that’s ...

In Marvel's "Avengers: Infinity War," supervillain Thanos uses a simple gesture — a snap of a finger — to destroy half of all life in the universe. But the mass-murdering comic book character not only ...

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