Is touch the most powerful of all our senses? As a brand-new grandparent I can personally attest to how closely touch is tied to human emotion and well-being. My granddaughter is almost always immediately calmed by caresses that I find impossible not to bestow. I can’t wait to watch her reaction when she reaches out and feels the fuzzy cover of the classic children’s book, Pat the Bunny.
Artists and philosophers have forever tried to capture and explain the power of touch. Crowds crane their necks to view Michelangelo’s masterful Creation of Adam, the centerpiece of the Sistine Chapel ceiling some 65 feet overhead. Because of its height, it looks at first glance as if the fingertips of God and Adam are touching, though they’re not. Although the interpretation is subjective, the work is very emotionally evocative.
Surprisingly little is known about this most essential of senses, and researchers investigating ...
