The 3-million-year old Ningwu ice cave never thaws
White stalactites hang down from every surface, and the walls and floors are glazed with thick ice. The Ningwu ice cave, also referred to as Wannian Ice Cave in Ningwu County, China, is a unique...
View ArticleScience and survival on Continent 7: Antarctica
At -100 degrees F, you’ll survive for less than 3 minutes and burn 5,000 calories a day, and boiling water can turn to snow instantly. And, at less than 1% humidity, your body will lose water just...
View ArticleSnow chicks venture onto the ice and into the huddle
In these two clips from the BBC’s Snow Chick: A Penguin’s Tale, emperor penguin chicks venture from their parents’ pouches into their communities. Kate Winslet dramatizes their transitions with her...
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Why does a frozen lake sound like a Star Wars blaster?
Ice can make all sorts of sounds: cracking, crackling, musical booooooms… and that pew! pew! Star Wars blaster sound. How? In this episode of NPR’s Skunk Bear, we learn about acoustic dispersion and...
View ArticleBuilding Frozen Castles with the Master of Ice
Every year, from January 5th to around February 25th, the city of Harbin, China transforms into a frozen city of light for the annual Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival. The sculptures are massive...
View ArticleWater in Helheim Glacier Makes Its Way to the Ocean
New NASA research found that large crevasses provide aquifer water upstream of Greenland’s Helheim Glacier with a clear escape to the ocean. This discovery helps confirm that the water, which is held...
View ArticleIce music made on hand-carved ice instruments
Tim Linhart was an ice sculptor in Colorado. One day he carved an upright string bass from ice and was astonished at the beautiful sound it made. Now he is the founder of Ice Music, based in Luleå,...
View ArticleA giant iceberg runs aground in Newfoundland’s Iceberg Alley
This iceberg is the first iceberg of the season to float by Ferryland, a small village in Newfoundland… and then it became stuck. Rising above the water by 15 stories and descending into the depths by...
View ArticleThe Arctic vs. the Antarctic
If you’re first learning about them, the Arctic and the Antarctic might be a bit confusing. Which one is which? Where are the penguins and where are the polar bears? Which is made of melting ice and...
View ArticleStep into a summer igloo (in 360°) as it’s being built
Though they’re made from blocks of compacted snow, igluit (igloos) keep their residents well-sheltered by insulating from the cold and wind outside. In this 360° video from The New York Times, Adami...
View ArticleHow Do Glaciers Move?
Glacier ice is weird. It’s solid. Solid things aren’t supposed to flow. But glacier ice flows like a liquid, and it does that without melting! How is this possible? Travel to Alaska’s Mendenhall...
View ArticlePostcards from Saturn: The incredible images that Cassini sent home
For over a decade, Cassini has orbited around Saturn 294 times, collected more than 600 GB of data, visited over a dozen moons and discovered at least seven new ones. It has sent over 400,000 images...
View ArticleInvisible Nature: Return of the Wood Frog
The common wood frog (Rana sylvatica) has an unusual strategy for coping with the cold. While most terrestrial frogs and toads burrow deep underground to escape freezing temperatures when they...
View Article1000m beneath the Antarctic ice, where no human has gone before
Travel to the depths of Antarctica, 1000 meters (3281 feet) beneath the ice in a state-of-the-art submersible: The Alucia‘s Deep Rover. In this BBC Earth clip, we travel with marine biologist Dr. Jon...
View ArticleGo inside an ice cave to see nature’s most beautiful blue
Where do glaciers and icebergs get their beautiful blue color? This unique blue might be nature’s most brilliant, and the color arises in a very special way thanks to some surprising interactions...
View ArticleThe Sound of Ice: Skating on thin black ice makes sci-fi movie laser sounds
This small lake outside Stockholm, Sweden, emits otherworldly sounds as Mårten Ajne skates over its precariously thin, black ice. “Wild ice skating,” or “Nordic skating,” is both an art and a science....
View ArticleL’orchestre d’hibernation animaux and how animals hibernate
A flute playing wood frog who freezes. A bassoon blowing painted turtle who (ahem) breathes through its butt. A trumpet blasting common poorwill who falls asleep anywhere, anytime. A harp plucking...
View ArticleAre there aliens out there?
Life began on the Earth around 3.5 billion years ago. Has the same thing happened somewhere else in the universe? On an icy moon? On a planet in the Goldilocks zone of a distant star? Imagine if...
View ArticleHow To Capture A Scent, an easy science experiment
If you’ve ever wanted to capture your favorite smell—a rose, cinnamon, a pine tree, a campfire—this easy experiment might be able to help. From Science Friday: Aha! Here’s how to capture a scent. With...
View ArticleAttempting to create the world’s largest ice carousel
Cut a very large circle into a frozen lake and you may be able to get the ice to spin. It’s called an ice carousel, and on April 7, 2018, around 100 people in Sinclair, Maine created a massive one over...
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