ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science
No Result
View All Result
ZME Science

Home → Science → Biology

Scientists learn more about hair ice, after 100 years

Mihai AndreibyMihai Andrei
July 24, 2015
in Biology, News
A A
Share on FacebookShare on TwitterSubmit to Reddit

You may have seen it in forests, and may have dismissed it as an eerie curiosity – a type of ice that looks like white silky hairs, a bit like candy floss. It only grows on rotten branches of trees under very specific conditions, during humid winter nights when the temperature drops just below 0 degrees Celsius. Scientists have believed it is caused by a fungus for over 100 years, but it wasn’t until now that this theory was actually proven.

Hair ice discovered on the forest floor near Brachbach, Germany. Credit: Gisela Preuß.

Alfred Wegener, the famous geophysicist who first proposed the theory of tectonic plates, first discovered white ice in 1918; he and his assistant identified it as a mycelium (the thin threads of mushroom growth), and for almost a century, no one paid any scientific interest to hair ice.

Some 90 years later, retired Swiss professor Gerhart Wagner showed that treating wood with fungicide prevents hair ice from growing, therefore confirming the idea. Now, another Swiss researcher wanted to find out more – and they did.

“When we saw hair ice for the first time on a forest walk, we were surprised by its beauty,” describes study co-author Christian Mätzler, who is from the Institute of Applied Physics at the University of Bern in Switzerland. “Sparked by curiosity, we started investigating this phenomenon, at first using simple tests, such as letting hair ice melt in our hands until it melted completely.”

Screenshot via Youtube.

Mätzler, a physicist, teamed up with a chemist (Diana Hofmann) and a biologist (Gisela Preuß) in Germany. Inspired by earlier work, and by photographs of hair ice sent in from various countries, they performed several tests on the ice to see how it grows and how its structure develops. Preuß studied samples of hair-ice-bearing wood collected in the winters of 2012, 2013 and 2014 in forests near Brachbach in western Germany and found several different fungus species.

“One of them, Exidiopsis effusa, colonised all of our hair-ice-producing wood, and in more than half of the samples, it was the only species present,” she says.

Hair ice in forest near Moosseedorf, Switzerland. Credit: Christian Mätzler.

Mätzler’s contribution was understanding the physics of the ice. His work confirmed guesses made by previous researchers, showing that the mechanism that creates the ice filaments at the wood surface is ice segregation.

“The process of Ice Segregation takes place in a porous medium when supercooled water moves to the presence of ice and adds to the ice through freezing. In this case the ice grows away from the ice/water interface,” writes Dr. James R. Carter a professor at the Illinois State University who was not involved in the study.

Interestingly, the fungus formation doesn’t affect the quantity of ice in any way – only its structure.

“The same amount of ice is produced on wood with or without fungal activity, but without this activity the ice forms a crust-like structure. The action of the fungus is to enable the ice to form thin hairs – with a diameter of about 0.01 mm – and to keep this shape over many hours at temperatures close to 0°C. Our hypothesis includes that the hairs are stabilised by a recrystallisation inhibitor that is provided by the fungus.”

Image via Btween Blinks

Hoffman then studied the hair ice itself, chemically. She found that the ice contained fragments of complex organic molecules – lignin and tannin – involved in fungus metabolism, further confirming the fungal effect.

RelatedPosts

Japan Earthquake causes Earth axis to tilt – shortens day!
New tectonic plate discovered off the cost of Ecuador
5.9 earthquake hits the US East Coast
Ancient tectonic plate re-discovered beneath California

It took over 100 years to confirm Wegener’s theories about hair ice, a fairly common phenomenon; this can makes me wonder, how many other common things are still waiting to be understood in our forests.

Journal Reference.

Tags: alfred wegenerhair-icetectonic plate

ShareTweetShare
Mihai Andrei

Mihai Andrei

Dr. Andrei Mihai is a geophysicist and founder of ZME Science. He has a Ph.D. in geophysics and archaeology and has completed courses from prestigious universities (with programs ranging from climate and astronomy to chemistry and geology). He is passionate about making research more accessible to everyone and communicating news and features to a broad audience.

Related Posts

Environment

Scientists resurrect mysterious missing tectonic plate beneath Canada

byTibi Puiu
5 years ago
tectonic plate
Geology

New tectonic plate discovered off the cost of Ecuador

byMihai Andrei
8 years ago
hair-ice
Biology

Nature’s toupee: fungus weaves astonishing hair-ice

byTibi Puiu
10 years ago
Geology

Project drills deep in New Zealand to understand and predict earthquakes

byMihai Andrei
11 years ago

Recent news

This Startup Is Using Ancient DNA to Recreate Perfumes from Extinct Flowers

May 21, 2025

Jupiter Was Twice Its Size and Had a Magnetic Field 50 Times Stronger After the Solar System Formed

May 21, 2025

How One Man and a Legendary Canoe Rescued the Dying Art of Polynesian Navigation

May 21, 2025 - Updated on May 22, 2025
  • About
  • Advertise
  • Editorial Policy
  • Privacy Policy and Terms of Use
  • How we review products
  • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.

No Result
View All Result
  • Science News
  • Environment
  • Health
  • Space
  • Future
  • Features
    • Natural Sciences
    • Physics
      • Matter and Energy
      • Quantum Mechanics
      • Thermodynamics
    • Chemistry
      • Periodic Table
      • Applied Chemistry
      • Materials
      • Physical Chemistry
    • Biology
      • Anatomy
      • Biochemistry
      • Ecology
      • Genetics
      • Microbiology
      • Plants and Fungi
    • Geology and Paleontology
      • Planet Earth
      • Earth Dynamics
      • Rocks and Minerals
      • Volcanoes
      • Dinosaurs
      • Fossils
    • Animals
      • Mammals
      • Birds
      • Fish
      • Amphibians
      • Reptiles
      • Invertebrates
      • Pets
      • Conservation
      • Animal facts
    • Climate and Weather
      • Climate change
      • Weather and atmosphere
    • Health
      • Drugs
      • Diseases and Conditions
      • Human Body
      • Mind and Brain
      • Food and Nutrition
      • Wellness
    • History and Humanities
      • Anthropology
      • Archaeology
      • History
      • Economics
      • People
      • Sociology
    • Space & Astronomy
      • The Solar System
      • Sun
      • The Moon
      • Planets
      • Asteroids, meteors & comets
      • Astronomy
      • Astrophysics
      • Cosmology
      • Exoplanets & Alien Life
      • Spaceflight and Exploration
    • Technology
      • Computer Science & IT
      • Engineering
      • Inventions
      • Sustainability
      • Renewable Energy
      • Green Living
    • Culture
    • Resources
  • Videos
  • Reviews
  • About Us
    • About
    • The Team
    • Advertise
    • Contribute
    • Editorial policy
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact

© 2007-2025 ZME Science - Not exactly rocket science. All Rights Reserved.