Frozen Frogs

Listen

Four or five centuries ago people thought that small animals simply froze solid in the winter and, in the spring, thawed out and resumed life. These ideas were later thought of as a foolish fiction of a previous, ignorant age.

Today, science has a growing list of creatures that do, indeed, freeze in the winter, and thaw and resume life in the spring. Scientists recently added three species of tree frog to that list. As the cool, fall weather sets in, these northern tree frogs usually burrow beneath the forest's leaf litter. However, if there is little snow, the frogs have no protection from freezing. Scientists assumed that the frogs' bodies manufacture antifreeze, as do some insects and polar fish.

When scientists collected some tree frogs for laboratory study in the late fall and winter, they received a surprise. Up to 35 percent of the frogs' body fluids froze when the frogs were cooled to several degrees below freezing. When thawed, the frogs returned to normal activities. Scientists discovered that the frogs' bodies produced glycerol. This alcohol acts as an antifreeze. What is more important, it prevents ice crystals from forming in a way that destroys cells.

The created world around us is full of surprises. Because God is God, His unlimited wisdom and power allow Him to create anything in any way that He likes. Because God is Creator, science cannot guess how nature might work. It must investigate to learn the surprising designs God built into the creation.