Ice goes bendy One well known characteristic of ice is that it fractures instead of bending when strained. This characteristic is caused by the inevitable defects introduced into the ice structure during solidification. Xu et al. show that very thin, carefully grown ice microfibers can bend a lot, up to about 11%, and still remain elastic (see the Perspective by Schulson). This value is reasonably close to theoretical limits previously estimated. The fibers are also super clear, allowing for efficient light transmission. Science , abh3754, this issue p. 187 ; see also abj4441, p. 158