Researchers pull fingers to solve why knuckles crack

Finding bursts bubble of popular theory

Knuckles

KNUCKLING DOWN  A knuckle at rest (left) pops when pulled. The sound of the knuckle cracking comes from a bubble (right, arrow) opening in the joint.

G.N. Kawchuk et al/PLOS ONE 2015 (CC BY 4.0)

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Knuckles crack when a bubble forms in a joint, new high-speed images reveal.