— Read on phys.org/news/2021-11-art-finger-snap-highest-human.html

“For the past few years, I’ve been fascinated with how we can snap our fingers,” Bhamla said. “It’s really an extraordinary physics puzzle right at our fingertips that hasn’t been investigated closely.”

In earlier work, Bhamla, Ilton, and other colleagues had developed a general framework for explaining the surprisingly powerful and ultrafast motions observed in living organisms. The framework seemed to naturally apply to the snap. It posits that organisms depend on the use of a spring and latching mechanism to store up energy, which they can then quickly release.