Hands: the world at your fingertips

The hand, with its five fingers, is a high-precision tool. It is our viaticum for grasping the world of matter with finesse. But computers and robotics have replaced many of our daily manual gestures. Yet even in this century, when the hand is often guiding screens and keyboards, it is still used for its irreplaceable qualities: health professionals palpate bodies to diagnose and even treat; children tame their environment and anchor their learning through fingers, pencils, pens or the tool; craftsmen model and assemble watch parts; the elderly rediscover their dexterity by kneading lʹargile.