3 Extreme Ways Trees Survive the Winter

Animals have all kinds of adaptations to help them get through winter, from hibernation to boots and hats. But trees have to make it through the coldest months of the year alive, too, and they've developed some pretty extreme ways to do it!

Hosted by: Michael Aranda

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[vectoredthrust]

Love Michael breaking the presenter character and laughing at the absurdity of dunking a tree in liquid helium

[YCCCm]

Michael can't keep a straight face trying to rationalize the backstory behind trees and liquid helium. 10/10

[AuntBibby]

tardigrade: ahhh help! im turning into glass! help!!!
japanese white birch: calm down honey you're making a scene

[artchic]

Anyone else find Michael's voice soothing and relaxing to listen to? Just me? Okay....

[smasheduptx]

"As far as I know, humans still can't turn themselves into glass."


Challenge accepted.

[theshuman]

mammals: its getting cold, guess its time for my winter coat
plants: its getting cold, guess ill die

[timsullivan]

With the tree's survival depending on them completing the vitrification process before that critical temperature is reached, to avoid the danger that differences between Fahrenheit and Centigrade might confuse trees - with lethat consequences! So it was decided to make it so that the critical temperature - minus 40 degrees - would be identical in both Centigrade and Fahrenheit! Good thinking!

[donfields]

I have experienced trees "exploding" at both extremes, in the bitter cold in VT and in a massive wildfire in CA, and in wildfires its a true complete explosion. Crazy

[theCodyReeder]

Question. What happens if you freeze a tree with liquid nitrogen and stored it for several years then brought it back to room temp? What about a million years?

[jomiar]

4:08 - Probably my favorite moment in a SciShow vid in a long time. Your delivery is so on point!

[Moonbeam]

Glass Trees would be a great name of a goth band.

[purplealice]

Maple syrup, being the product of maple trees protecting themselves from freezing, might help you deal with winters in Montana. And maple syrup has the lowest glycemic index of any natural sugar, and it tastes really good - the thought of a hot stack of pancakes with maple syrup (and some bacon on the side) makes me feel warm inside...

[gordonlawrence]

Some of this information is vital for ultra-cold survival. If you hear trees exploding in the distance, then one of two things is going on - a very cold front coming in which will result in a rapid drop in temperature (even at -30C) or if it's already colder than that then the temperature is getting close to the "death threshold". The death threshold is where people start dying from lungs freezing as the body cannot warm the air up enough to stop it. -55C for an average adult male -50C for an average woman and about -42C for a smaller child. The other test is the "crackle test". IE spit and if it crackles before hitting the ground you need to find shelter and/or heat fast before your lungs freeze. Unfortunately this happens at about -55C to -60C so not good enough for women or kids.

[claudekingstan]

These glass trees would be perfect to grow on Mars and the Moon.

[sanyo_neezy]

Thank you, SciShow for being amazing!

[Qui-]

That's awesome. One thing though, I learned that plant cellular structure has cell walls which keep the plant together, there aren't spaces between them and that the cell membranes don't actually touch each other. But I guess the cells can shrink inside each "cubicle" leaving watery liquid outside the membrane?

[crouchingtigerhiddenadam]

More videos with Michael hosting! And Hank on Microcosmos.

[funkeybikemonkey]

why don't they just shiver like us. i find having a good old fashioned moan helps too. stooopid trees!

[AngryKittens]

2:57 "You might be familiar with this liquid, we call it _sap"_
**shows resin**
😒

[berryberrykixx]

About 11 years ago, my husband and I moved into a new apartment complex. We had lots of new, small trees dotted all over, but on the edge of the property there was this giant tree, very old, taller than all three stories of the apartment complex. That winter, 2009-2010, we had several flash freezes before it finally stayed cold. Nobody thought anything about it. Fast forward to June, 2010. In June, we here in Lake Township, Ohio, were dealt a pretty brutal blow. Overnight, the 5th-6th, we went through two freak storms that laid down four EF4 (borderline EF5) tornados. Where we live, this was extremely unusual. Anyway, the first one touched down down the road from us, on the opposite side of an intersection we lived near. We didn't get the brunt of any of those tornados, but we got some exceptional winds and bursts of sudden barometric pressure changes that led to me blowing out an eardrum. The front door to our building never really sat perfectly within its frame unless you stopped to pull up on the handle and pull it in, so that night the winds ripped the door off of our building since it wasn't entirely closed. When all was clear, around 4am, we went back up to our third floor apartment and went to bed. Within about a week, I discovered a leak in the roof that was creating a stain on my kitchen ceiling, and maintenance came, called in roofers, and it was fixed. A few weeks later, another big thunderstorm came through in the morning. I woke up to what sounded like our shower running, but my husband was still asleep. I stepped into the living room to find that the fluctuations in pressure that night had popped the sealant that kept the big, half-circle, decorative bay window above the balcony/patio doors from leaking or moving in its frame. Water was POURING in all around that window and we had to rush and pull everything away from the water flowing into the apartment. Called maintenance (who just stood there with his jaw on the floor, shocked that the entire window hadn't fallen in yet), who called management, who called an inspection team. They concluded that the entire building was shifted just enough off it's foundation and that everybody who lived in the building would have to be moved, starting with us. And so we did, and we're also given a month's rent for free, and we ended up in an even newer apartment. So, what does all of this have to do with this video? Well, our now-former apartment was at the very end of the building, and from my bedroom window, every day I would wake up to shapes and designs all over my bedroom wall due to the sunrise passing through that huge tree. I adored that tree. I grew up in the same area and I know that tree has been there for a lot longer than I have lived. And two weeks after they had moved my building and the next two buildings out, that tree, in the middle of a bright, sunny day, snapped and fell through into what was my bedroom, and the bedroom of our former neighbor below us. Just like that. We took a walk over to see where exactly this tree had fallen, and from what my husband could make out, it would have gone directly across the middle of our bed. It happened around 5:30am, so we would have likely been asleep. Investigators and some scientists came to the conclusion that those snap freezes we had probably did 95% if the damage to the interior of the tree, and the winds from the tornado in our area made it twist and turn and sway enough to make it extremely vulnerable, until it just gave way to death. ETA: Those tornados caused an immense amount of damage. Our center for Lake Township Police/Fire/Rescue was a 100% loss, one person killed. Our high school was also a 100% loss. Many homes were wiped clean off their foundations, and a further 6 people lost their lives. I do not live in Tornado Alley, and even severe thunderstorms are rare around here because of a lake effect we get from Lake Erie. Storms that take a direct approach as us usually fall apart, reach a certain area and change direction, or split apart into two storms, one heading southeast and one heading northeast. The entire Toledo-metro area, except for Monclova and another few suburbs to the west, is like living in a little bubble created by Lake Erie. That day, until 7pm, we had only a 5% threat for severe weather. When those hit, our threat level hadn't been moved past 15%. For whatever reason, our little bubble moved at the last minute and pushed two severe thunderstorms into each other creating this one huge severe storm. The last time this area saw tornados above EF3 was back in the 1800's. I will never forget what happened to my town and my home that night as long as I live. I have no idea if the news ever covered that tree coming down because I still can't bring myself to watch any of the videos regarding that night, but if anyone wants to try to see, you can look up "Lake Township Tornado" for all of the videos regarding that night.