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Delicate strands of extraordinarily thin ice grow out of rotting tree branches like hairs on a head. The ephemeral hair ice can last for only a few hours to a few days if the temperature stays freezing. Researchers have known that cold-tolerant fungi are responsible for the tufts of ice, but only recently uncovered the species responsible for the ice growth, the chemical composition of the melted hair ice and how the fungi stimulate the unique ice growth. All photos were taken by the researchers, including Gisela Preuß, a biologist at the Wiedtal-Gymnasium in Neustadt, Germany, and Christian Mätzler, a co-author of the published study and professor emeritus at the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Bern in Switzerland. [Read the full story on hair ice]
Elizabeth is a staff writer for Live Science. She enjoys learning and writing about natural and health sciences, and is thrilled when she finds an evocative metaphor for an obscure scientific idea. She researched ancient iron formations in China for her Masters of Science degree in Geosciences at the University of California, Riverside, and went on to Columbia Journalism School for a master's degree in journalism, focusing on environmental and science writing.
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