comment: >
  
  This is less a shower thought and more a scientific fact. Maybe better for TIL
context: This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.
  Remember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not "thoughts had in the shower!"
  (For an explanation of what a "showerthought" is, please read this page.)
  Rule-breaking posts may result in bans. >
  
  Moisture is the essence of wetness, and wetness is the essence of beauty. >
  
  Mer-man >
  
  I think I got the black lung, Pop! > >
  
  For Christ sake Derek you were down there a day! >
  
  "God?" "God? What the shit are you talking about? It's me maury!" >
  
  It’s the “what the shit?!” for me…gets me every time 😂 >
  
  Me too.  Hilarious >
  
  If you've ever touched running water with nitrile gloves on, you'll know it's trippy, your brain says your hand should be wet but it's completely dry, solely because the temperature change and texture is there >
  
  I hate the feeling of cold water on my hands so I use dish gloves when washing dishes. We didn’t have any one time and I used nitrile gloves instead - they were useless >
  
  Do you wash dishes with cold water? >
  
  I will rinse with cold water if im not using the dishwasher for some reason, do you not rinse off the soapy water? >
  
  Rinse, okay. Personally, I still use hot or at least warm rather than cold to rinse. But I wouldn't wash my dishes with cold water >
  
  Yes definitely wash with water as hot as I can bare but for some reason I've always rinsed with the normal temp water and never thought to do otherwise. >
  
  If you rinse with hot it's easier to dry. Or if you leave them to drip dry it's quicker >
  
  Yep. They dry quicker if you rinse with hot water. >
  
  So that’s why my auntie thought she peed her pants when she first experienced seat warmers in my dad’s car. >
  
  Air conditioned seats make me feel this way >
  
  Man I wish I could experience air conditioned seats!! >
  
  I live in Houston and A/C seats are amazing.  I use them all the time and it keeps your back and ass cool and dry. >
  
  Sounds dreamy! But I live where there’s usually snow 6 months out of the year so air conditioned seats are on par with having a convertible, borderline stupid. They would be SO AWESOME for like two months though. >
  
  That's how I feel about my heated seats and steering wheel.  I almost never use them but it's nice when I need it. >
  
  I swear to God, a kid asked a question like this (how does the brain feel wetness) in freshman science class, after the teacher literally dared us to ask him anything to try and stump him, and the teacher totally shamed him for asking a stupid question "because you just feel it." >
  
  We were learning about properties in science. This teacher had a coffee cup and was talking about how the air around it was a gas, the cup was a solid and the coffee was a liquid because it takes the shape of what it is in. Then, he flipped over his cup, and dumped his coffee out and said see!
  This same teacher was saying how you can't see heat. I asked him why on a hot day you can see the waves of heat coming off the pavement. He just stared at me for like a minute. And then completely ignored the question and moved on. 
  He also moved his tongue all over his teeth while his mouth was closed a lot. I think he was on something. >
  
  
  This same teacher was saying how you can't see heat.
  
  Well, actually  you can't. You can see the effects, e.g. air refracting light due to heat. >
  
  Fire? >
  
  That's not the heat you are seeing, it's smoke particles releasing photons due to heat. Might be a small difference, but it is one. Try telling the ovens temp by just looking at the air inside (not the heating element) >
  
  What about a red hot iron bar? You can absolutely tell the difference between a cold, hot, and very hot one.
  Absorbing Released photons is quite literally what seeing is, it's just semantics and quite unfair to say you don't see heat because you actually see the photons. It would be like saying you don't actually see anything, just the photons that bounce off said things >
  
  Iron is the same. Wether you can see photons from heat depends entirely on the medium. If seeing an iron bar glowing is seeing heat, then seeing steam is seeing heat and feeling a cold slippery texture is feeling wetness. You are seeing what the heat causes, not the temperature itself. >
  
  Bullshit. My mum knows if it’s damp or just cold every damn time. It’s one of her superpowers. >
  
  Nah it's part of getting old with experience. Obviously something lying out for a long period of time isn't going to be wet even though it feels wet. Also just looking at it helps. Wet cloth moves differently than dry cloth.
  Or maybe I have super powers as well! >
  
  Experience is a superpower compared to the inexperienced >
  
  Just like how any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic >
  
  I can attest that your mother felt wetness last night, Trebeck. >
  
  I'm sorry the correct response is "What is Idaho?" >
  
  No Trebek that would be your mother >
  
  Indeed, Shedaho >
  
  Also to add to your thought we can't feel temperature. Only temperature change >
  
  Love it - how crazy are we. We really do only interpret the world through an abstract lens. Wonder what the experience is for creatures that actually have the right tools to measure it. >
  
  There's things out there that can see heat, or light that is out of our spectrum. Hear above and below our frequencies. Smell things we can't. Who knows what the world actually "looks, smells or sounds like" but it's super interesting that we've only scratched the surface. >
  
  Life creates the cheapest way for us to sense what we need to sense >
  
  More like the most simple workable version available with the tools we have. I read a while ago human eyes have inherent limitations that don’t exist in some other Domains of living creatures just because of certain random (not really random) adaptations that took place 100s of millions of years ago. I’m sure it’s like this for every other body part too. >
  
  Oh shit that's interesting. Got any examples? >
  
  Human eyes have a blind spot owing to the hole in the retina where the optic nerves pass through. Octopuses have their nerves routed differently and as such have no similar blind spot. >
  
  Ah yes this is what I was remembering thank you! >
  
  I once opened a faucet (tap) in the dark and didn't feel the water, i thought the faucet was broken but apparently the water were the exact temperature as my hand. Crazy! >
  
  
  water were
  
  water is singular unless you are referring to specific waters >
  
  i have a feeling one may have seen this Qi clip >
  
  Yes! I was reminded of it this morning in the shower haha >
  
  it is a good show. continue watching! >
  
  We can’t actually feel the carpet, just it’s temperature and texture. >
  
  good one, once a few years ago my science teacher said we get the sense of touch by feeling the change in temperature and my brain did a fart. This shower thought's comparable to your comment, too. >
  
  What about the involuntary response where our fingers and toes wrinkle in  water? It’s a neural response to wetness, so perhaps we can feel it on a subconscious level? >
  
  I thought that is physiological and related to water somehow eventually getting through the barrier of our skin? >
  
  I guess it depends on how one defines “feel” vs “perceive” and if one differentiates the body’s perception of wetness from the level of perception the thinking minds is capable of. >
  
  This is false. I hate this stupid viral piece of misinformation. I blame Hank Green. I love you Hank, but you were wrong here, and now tons of little internet minions are misinformed all parroting the same nonsense.
  Your body can detect wetness in two ways. 
  
  
  The mammalian dive feflex. When water touches areas of your face, your heart rate slows, your blood pressure drops, and your breathing slows. This is to help us not drown to death in a puddle. 
  
  
  You know how your fingers prune up in the water? That's not due to them being water-logged like everyone seems to think. It doesn't happen in paraplegic feet, and this tells us that it's a nervous response. We believe its to increase surface area on wet skin to increase grip. 
  
  
  Your body can absolutely detect wetness. This madness needs to nipped in the buds.
  Edit: my god the vlogborthers Stans... Guys, Hank can be wrong sometimes. He's human. A human who can 100% detect wetness. >
  
  both of those are consequences of your body inferring wetness, not detecting it. you havent shown proof of an actual wetness detector >
  
  I feel like this post is the same as saying “humans can’t technically see color, you just see different wavelengths and your brain interprets those as colors”. It’s a stupid linguistic technicality that means nothing interesting >
  
  not really. we have colour detectors called eyes. we do not have wetness detectors but we all know distinctly the feeling of something wet. thats pretty interesting imo >
  
  Our skin is our wetness detector. It is a sensory organ just like our eyes >
  
  its not made for wetness tho. eyes are specifically for light. skin is for texture and temperature. theres no specific organ for wetness, yet we can "detect" it >
  
  That’s just the method that skin uses to detect wetness. We don’t have grass receptors but I can still tell when I’m touching grass. Who cares? >
  
  yes, except grass isnt a feeling. wet is >
  
  Wetness is a state of being not a feeling >
  
  The post is talking about the 'feeling' of wetness though.  I don't think anyone is trying to argue that wetness doesn't exist >
  
  You can put your hand into bodywarm water, without noticing that your hand is underwater >
  
  Best example is getting out of the bathtube, you dry yourself and then to get the water out of the bathtube you reach to the drain-plug through the water. If it has the same temperature as your skin you will only fell the pressure from the water and a temperature drop only on the area there your hand is getting into the water, because the water gets colder on the surface first.
  If you close your eyes when doing this it gets even stranger. >
  
  this is on the level of "we dont actually see things as they are, we just infer it" >
  
  I don’t know man. But I do know one thing: I sure do love boobs. >
  
  Especially wet ones amirite >
  
  Why discriminate? >
  
  As an amateur plumber - checking for leaks by hand feel is nearly impossible. I have to use a gray t shirt or something that will visually show moisture. >
  
  When I was working in the lab and put my hands under running water while wearing gloves, I would feel like my hands were wet. But when I took them off my hands hadn’t touched water at all. It was just my brain making an inference based on temperature and probably a few more things. >
  
  I never understood this. Who are you to determine which level of “feeling” this belongs to. In my book, if you’re determining the texture and temperature - you’re very much feeling it. >
  
  IMO this is the difference between feeling and inferring. We can feel changes related to texture, pressure, osmolarity and temperature. But we need to infer changes related to wetness (thermal and mechanic receptors) and UV radiation (sunburns). This is different from other animals, fruitflies can directly perceive wetness and the bees can see UV radiation - i.e. they have specific organs/cells to get this information. >
  
  
  btw I’m not arguing with you - sure we also infer it. I just don’t agree with ruling out the option that we feel it for the reasons above >
  
  OP if what you say is true then help me out. I teach twenty 2nd graders that I have to teach science.
  Tell me how I set up something that feels wet, that isn't wet. >
  
  Very cold/frozen sponge in a baggie >
  
  Yep. Try it out even easier. Put your hand into the water while wearing latex gloves. You will feel habd and fingers getting wet but in fact they are just cold. >
  
  We actually do have hydroreceptors, tiny organs in our skin called phalanothrecpes. They were discovered by a Polish biologist in 1966, and he determined that they functioned by receiving moisture from the air and other environments, before coursing that same moisture through your veins and into your lungs and spleen, thereby allowing people to breathe underwater for moments at a time. These organs age rapidly however, and begin to fail just out of infancy. Their presence explains why newborn babies are able to survive underwater for much longer than you might imagine, but the ability deteriorates over time. It's theorized by modern scientists that we, in the far future, may re-evolve this  aquatic ability due to rising sea levels, and with our newfound respiratory capability will conquer the world's oceans, as Poseidon intended. >
  
  Who the fuck did that experiment >
  
  Not really a shower thought, but more dealing with particles/matter in groups or singularly. Also how people understand matter and our world through properties like wetness and such. Is one molecule of water wet by itself? >
  
  One single independent molecule of water cannot be said to be in any of the three states of matter, because the states of matter describe the nature of intermolecular interactions and relative positions. 
  A single molecular of water isn't a liquid, and only liquids are ever described as wet.
  This is not to mention that many people don't consider liquids themselves to be wet anyways, and consider only the solids the liquids touch as wet. >
  
  Also wetness only makes sense when there is air present. You don't have wet hair while you're submerged in water. >
  
  This takes me back to the glory days. I will die on the ‘water is wet’ hill.
  Wet: Covered or saturated with water or another liquid.
  Your hair is definitely covered with water when submerged in water. >
  
  Is water 'covered or saturated with water or another liquid'? >
  
  We also never touch anything, as both surfaces (finger + thing you touch) repulse each other. There is always a tiny gap in between, even between a knife blade and your tomato. What we feel is the pressure that ensues.
  Edit: here's a short Vsauce video explaining this >
  
  Getting close enough to a surface to feel the repulsive force is what touch is. It's wrong to say we don't touch anything. >
  
  Right? What the hell do they think touch is? When two atoms exist in the same space? By that logic nothing is ever touching anything. Not a single atom in your body is touching. >
  
  On the atomic level, the human body is something like 99% empty space >
  
  Did we as humanity just learn this fact? Because I've been hearing about it non stop for weeks. I'd like to unsubscribe from this fact, please. >
  
  You are correct that we do not have receptors specifically designed to sense wetness or humidity. Instead, we infer the presence of water by sensing temperature and texture changes.
  Our sense of touch relies on a number of different receptors in the skin, such as Meissner's corpuscles and Merkel cells, which respond to different types of mechanical stimuli such as pressure and vibration. When we touch an object that is wet, the texture of the object changes due to the added water, and the receptors in the skin send signals to the brain indicating that the object is wet. Additionally, wet objects are often cooler to the touch than dry objects, which can also provide cues to the brain that the object is wet.
  This is why it can be difficult to determine if something is wet or just cold when the temperature is low. The coolness of the object can make it feel wet to the touch, even if it is dry, and make it hard to distinguish between wet and dry items.
  Another reason why it's hard to differentiate is that wetness is generally relative. A surface that appears dry to us might be wet for another creature or a machine that has different sensitivity or different method to sense wetness.
  It's important to note that our sense of touch is not the only way we can infer wetness, our other senses like sight, smell, and taste can also help us to infer it. Even though the sensation of wetness is not directly related to any one sense, our brain combine all these signals to give us the overall perception of wetness. >
  
  You are correct that the sensation of "wetness" is not directly caused by the presence of moisture on the skin. Instead, our perception of wetness is inferred from other cues such as changes in temperature and texture. The skin does not have specialized receptors, called hygroreceptors, for detecting moisture. >
  
  Bro there's no way....
  You watched that YouTube short didn't you? >
  
  This is such a dead horse argument
  When I'm wet, I feel wet. Simple.
  I don't care what you say. >
  
  We can't actually see water.  We can oy infer it from the light reflecting off of it.
  We can't actually hear water.  We can only infer it from the vibrations it makes in the air.
  Guess what, most of our perception of the world around us inference. >
  
  So are men lying about condoms being worse because you can’t feel the wetness? Or are they worse in some other way? >
  
  This is a scientific fact not a shower thought. We don't have the receptors to feel wetness. >
  
  Dude humans are a majority water. We don’t feel wetness. We feel a lack of wetness. Much like your mum in bed >
  
  
  We feel a lack of wetness. Much like your mum in bed
  
  Not sure if you're implying that op fails to make his mom wet or saying you fucked his mom but couldn't make her wet. >
  
  I must be a really shit X-man because I can totally feel the wetness of a towel on a cold day. >
  
  Glad to see someone else in here with the same “superpower”. This whole thread has me so confused. You guys can’t feel the texture of ‘wetness’?? >
  
  Upvoted for the cordial "I was wrong, and here is the right information link and user who showed me" link. Admitting when wrong and learning from it feels like a rare trait these days that should be encouraged. >
  
  Unfortunately, in this case the correction is incorrect. The linked user is missing the point, didn't have sources to actually refute the shower thought, and is now getting pummeled with links to scientific articles confirming that humans do not have hydroreceptors. 
  Our brains just have to figure out something is wet using a combination of other senses which is why people can often confuse a cold sensation with a wet one. >
  
  It's one of those things when you first hear you naturally want to disagree. But when you get out of a shower and are drying yourself, you only notice spots you've missed it you feel a breeze and the difference on wet skin. >
  
  Maybe link to u/foggy-sunrise's comment instead of their username if you want us to read it. I'm not going through pages of this guy's history to find it. >
  
  I disagreed with you but then I read the last point about touching clothes on a cold day and now I'm actually open to accepting it haha