Visually these boards have a washboard effect-and as the varied grain intersects the wood surface and light at different angles, a hologram-type depth emerges.

NPR: Excerpt: 'A Splintered History Of Wood'

"We're finding that when you rub a natural biological surface that has an orientation - that has a grain, if you will - and you run that grain perpendicularly to the long axis of the ridges, we find a dramatic increase in friction, " Dr Dominy told BBC News.

BBC: Artificial finger tests evolutionary origin of prints

There was no visible wood grain in the print, and its shape indicated it was taken from a curved surface, not a flat one.

BBC: Fingerprint evidence is fallible

Most are smaller than a grain of sand, according to the American Meteor Society, and usually burn up before they hit Earth's surface.

WSJ: Meteor Creates a Show, No Apparent Damage