July 28, 2000 (Boston, Mass.) - H. Eugene Stanley and colleagues
at the Center for Polymer Studies at Boston University and at
the Universite di Roma La Sapienza have created a computer model
that is useful in understanding how molecules move through
super-cooled water. Papers in the current issue of the journal
Nature and in May 15th issue of Physical Review Letters describe
the results of their work, which was supported, in part, by the
National Science Foundation. Understanding the mechanisms of
super-cooled water, that is between the temperatures of 0
degrees and -38 degrees C, is key to understanding the processes
that allow life to continue in sub-zero conditions. These
conditions exist, for example, in the cells of plants that
continue to metabolize through the winter, albeit at a slower
pace - like a hibernating bear. Essential to this metabolism is
the fact that water can exist in a viscous state, not just as
the liquid we are familiar with, nor frozen (which would block
all metabolism), but in the s