Engineers replicate polar bear strategy for keeping warm

The results, published in ACS Applied Materials and Interfaces, are being developed into commercially available products.

Polar bears endure temperatures as low as -46°C, and they have many adaptations that allow them to thrive when the temperature plummets.

According to UMass Amherst, one of the major discoveries of the last few decades is that many polar animals use the sunlight to maintain their temperature. Scientists understand that part of the bears’ secret is their white fur, which transmits solar radiation toward the bears’ skin.

“But the fur is only half the equation…The other half is the polar bears’ black skin,” said the paper’s senior author, Trisha L. Andrew, associate professor of chemistry and adjunct in chemical engineering at UMass Amherst.

Andrew said polar bear fur is essentially a natural fibreoptic, conducting sunlight down to the bears’ skin, which absorbs the light. The fur is also good at preventing the now-warmed skin from radiating out warmth.