Bizarre Ice-Forming Bacteria's Secrets Revealed

Bacteria found everywhere from the lower atmosphere to the Amazon rainforest may help form ice by manipulating the forces between water molecules, new research suggests. The bacteria, Pseudomonas syringae, use special proteins to alternatingly repel and attract water molecules, squishing the H20 molecules into high- and low-density patches. This patchy organization sort of "confuses" the water molecules so that they form ice at much higher temperatures and under other conditions not normally ame