• Question: How do we know all fingerprints are different if we haven't tested them?

    Asked by Meg to Chris, Josh, Rebecca, Rob, Susan on 23 Jun 2015.
    • Photo: Josh Meyers

      Josh Meyers answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      Fingerprints develop when a baby is in the womb. This is when undifferentiated cells on the end of our fingers decide whether they are going to be ‘valley’ type cells or ‘ridge’ type cells and this makes up our fingerprint.

      This process is random enough that the chances of two people having the same fingerprints is unthinkably small.

    • Photo: Rebecca Dewey

      Rebecca Dewey answered on 23 Jun 2015:

      We don’t! There is lots of discussion around the uniqueness of fingerprints and people are starting to realise that they are not quite as unique as we assumed. The fingerprint is just so very complicated (if you think about it, it is several dozen ridges in your skin, and they can all take on different shapes and directions, so it’s a very complicated picture). Like with snowflakes, the chances of finding two the same are very very very small – but not impossible!

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