Thursday, August 26, 2010

How come fish don't freeze in cold water?

There are many fish species that live in cold waters but they do not freeze to death like this would be the case with us humans. Why is that? Well the answer lies in the antifreeze protein in the fish's blood. According to scientists this protein has the ability to protect fish from freezing meaning that there's no such thing as some sort of chemical bond between protein and water, the only thing that is sufficient is the presence of this protein in fish's blood.

This protein has much better properties than any household antifreeze but scientists still do not know how exactly does this protein work. Scientists have concluded that for instance in cold Arctic waters, for some reason, water molecules, which usually perform a permanent dance in liquid water, and constantly enter new bonds, dance a more ordered dance in the presence of this antifreeze protein, and this prevents ice crystallization.

1 comments:

Anonymous,  November 15, 2010 at 5:22 PM  

Do you think if scientists find a way to replicate this protein and somehow get it into human body system, humans will eventually be able to not freeze in water?