Science

Polar bear hair research could lead to ski and snowboard technology advancements
A team including Irish researchers has found that greasy hair gives polar bears' fur anti-icing properties



After collecting hair from six polar bears in the wild, scientists homed in on the hair 'sebum' (or grease) as the all-important protectant. Picture: Jenny E Ross.

Wed, 29 Jan, 2025 - 19:00
Caroline Delaney

An international team of scientists has discovered the anti-icing secret of polar bear fur — something that allows one of the planet’s most iconic animals to survive and thrive in one of its most punishing climates.

That secret?

Greasy hair.

After collecting hair from six polar bears in the wild, the scientists homed in on the hair 'sebum' (or grease) as the all-important protectant. This sebum, which is made up of cholesterol, diacylglycerols, and fatty acids, makes it very hard for ice to attach to their fur.



A polar bear's insulating fur shown under infrared heat imaging at Svalbard Archipelago, Norway. Picture: Jon Aars, Norsk Polarinstitutt

While this finding sheds fascinating new light on our understanding of polar bear — and even Inuit — ecology, it may also have a suite of unrelated applications, with a similar concoction of artificially made sebum promising to be useful as an anti-ice surface coating, or in next-gen ski skins used by skiers and snowboarders.

Julian Carolan from Meath, a PhD student from Trinity College Dublin’s School of Chemistry and the AMBER Research Ireland Centre, is the first author of the journal article, which has been published today (weds, Jan 29) as the cover story in leading international journal Science Advances.



Julian Carolan, a PhD student from Trinity College Dublin’s School of Chemistry and the AMBER Research Ireland Centre and Dr Richard Hobbs, Assistant Professor and Royal Society-Science Foundation Ireland University Research Fellow in Trinity’s School of Chemistry and the AMBER Research Ireland Centre

More:
https://www.irishexaminer.com/lifestyle/outdoors/arid-41563897.html