It's an environmental skill that was likely acquired when the last Ice Age swept over the Earth, and one that millions of years later, may provide the answer to extending the window of opportunity for human organ transplants.
The wood frog's ability to turn into a froggy ice cube,
then thaw itself out, and hop away, happily ever after. For this common frog, along with a few other of the species, displays an unusual trait called freeze tolerance. That means that instead of burying into the substrate of ponds and reducing body functions to a minimum in winter, they freeze where they have burrowed, and their hearts and brains cease to function.
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