Who knew the secret weapon against ice was fish?!?
We’re in that stage of winter where there’s just ice hanging around everywhere.
Which is fine, as long as we don’t try to walk anywhere, or drive anywhere, or otherwise try to get across the ice.
Researchers at UCLA have developed a coating that can take care of that persistent part of winter, and amazingly, it’s all due to fish.
Some fish species that live in the Antarctic keep themselves from freezing by making proteins in their blood that work like anti-freeze.
By mimicking those proteins in their hydrogel coating, the researchers can hold off ice crystals from forming and growing, and making surfaces so that ice can’t attach to them.
If there is ice nearby, you can just brush it away, cause it won’t be stuck to anything.
It’s nontoxic, it works on a wide variety of surfaces, it’s easy to make and it works at temperatures well below zero.
So we’re spraying it on basically everything, right?
The award for friendliest thing done during the winter this year may go to Kendall Diwisch of Edmonton, Alberta.
Last week he was touring the oil wells where he works when he came across three kittens who had gotten their tails stuck in some ice.
Fortunately he knew just what to do.
He poured a bit of warm coffee on the ground to melt the ice and free their tails.
Once back indoors, the cats were adopted as a group by a family, hopefully one that keeps warm coffee close by.
Hydrogel coating is first to prevent ice formation in 3 different ways (UCLA)
WATCH: Man Rescues Kittens Stuck In Ice By Pouring Warm Coffee On Them (CBS Seattle)
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