This experiment showed that the ice adhesion of unwashed polar bear fur is exceptionally low. While the often-accepted threshold for “icephobicity” is around 100 kPa, the unwashed fur measured as ...

Julian Carolan says researchers are looking at polar bear grease because it repels ice. That property could help replace the ...

Polar bears don’t have to worry about skipping a wash day. The sebum, or natural oil, on the mammals’ fur helps them survive the harsh Arctic weather by making it hard for ice to stick to them, ...

DUBLIN — In the harsh Arctic environment, where polar bears regularly plunge into freezing waters to hunt seals, a remarkable thing happens: unlike your car windshield on a winter morning, their fur ...

White fur, blubbery skin, sharp claws. Polar bears seem perfectly adapted to their frigid habitat up north. Now, researchers have discovered the bears have another unexpected Arctic adaptation ...

New research finds that grease that coats polar bear fur contains a specialized mixture of chemicals that make it resistant ...

“Unwashed, greasy hair made it much harder for ice to stick. In contrast, when the polar bear hair was washed and the grease largely removed it performed similarly to human hair, to which ice sticks ...

The bears’ greasy fur is the secret to the popular species’ survival in one of Earth’s most punishing climates. The grease, also known as sebum, is made up of cholesterol, fatty acids and ...

Comparing fur samples collected from animals in Svalbard, Norway, an international team of researchers first identified that ...

Preventing ice buildup in extreme temperatures has long vexed industries from aviation to energy, but a new study suggests ...

Nano-physicist Bodil Holst's interest in polar bear fur began while she was watching a German quiz show. "I learned that polar bears are invisible in infrared cameras, meaning their fur has the ...

Polar bears on ice in Northern Canada. Nano-physicist Bodil Holst's interest in polar bear fur began while she was watching a German quiz show. "I learned that polar bears are invisible in ...