A new study reveals a previously undiscovered way that we can feel light touches: directly through our hair follicles.
Before now, it was thought that only nerve endings in the skin and around the hair follicles could transmit the sensation.
The team behind the study, led by researchers from Imperial College London in the UK, used an RNA sequencing process to find that cells in part of the hair follicle called the outer root sheath (ORS) had a higher percentage of touch-sensitive receptors than equivalent cells in the skin.
From there, the researchers produced lab cultures of human hair follicle cells together with sensory nerves.
When the hair follicle cells were mechanically stimulated, the sensory nerves next to them were also activated – showing that touch had been registered. READ MORE FROM SCIENCE ALERT
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