A new study is revealing the science behind how some insects survive winters in harsh climates, and it goes against previously-believed theories.
Published by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, the article examines how antifreeze proteins found in some insects prevent ice from forming and spreading inside their bodies.
One of the authors, Valeria Molinero, a professor of chemistry with the University of Utah, said while it’s long been known that insects have these proteins, little is understood about the way they bind to ice.
Previous research led some scientists to believe that the antifreeze proteins reorder water molecules inside an insect’s cells into an ice-like structure, which would allow the protein to stop the formation of ice.
“Essentially they decided
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