We may lather on the anti-wrinkle cream after we hit our thirties, but the reality is that as we get older, we’re going to develop wrinkles.

That’s simply how human biology works.

Why? Well this has been a point of contention for researchers for decades, with plenty of theories and contributory factors identified, but no clear and definitive answer as to how the wrinkling process works.

Things are about to change, however. Thanks to researches at Binghamton University, New York, we now have greater clarity on wrinkles than ever before – and the answer is more logical than you might think.

Binghamton researcher Guy German entered academia with one clear mission: to conclusively understand how and why wrinkles form as we age, as he explained in a statement:

“When I got into this field, that was one of my goals – can I figure out aging? Because if I look at the TV, the radio, online, at shops, I’m being told 1,000 different things about how to improve my skin health, and I want to know what’s right and what isn’t. And so I thought I’d skip to the end and try and figure it out myself.”

And thanks to his recent study, on which he collaborated with a Binghamton-based research team, German was able to reveal that conclusive answer in a paper published in the Journal of the Mechanical Behavior of Biomedical Materials.

Skin wrinkles form, the researchers explain, after a lifetime of skin stretching and contracting, thanks to the pressure and mechanics of the way that skin moves and grows.

The research team used tiny samples of skin obtained from participants aged between 16 and 91 years old. Using a low-force tensometer, they stretched the skin in different directions and observed something fascinating.

When the skin stretches in one direction, it contracts in another direction; and the level of contraction increases with age, as German goes on to explain:

“If you stretch Silly Putty, for instance, it stretches horizontally, but it also shrinks in the other direction – it gets thinner. That’s what skin does as well. As you get older, that contraction gets bigger. And if your skin is contracted too much, it buckles. That’s how wrinkles form.”

It may not be the answer that we were hoping for – after all, there’s not much we can do to stop our skin from stretching and contracting as we live our everyday lives – but this deeper understanding of skin mechanics does help put an end to plenty of debates, and may help you better direct your money towards the cosmetics you really want.

German does caveat the research with a word of warning though: premature aging can be brought on by too much sun exposure, no matter how still you are.

You might not be able to prevent wrinkles forever, but sunscreen will keep your skin younger for longer (as well as lowering your skin cancer risk, too).

If you think that’s impressive, check out this story about a “goldmine” of lithium that was found in the U.S. that could completely change the EV battery game.