Watchers on The Wall get a lot of credit for protecting the North amidst ice and snow and frigid temperatures. But you know who deserves that kind of frozen-street cred even more? The inhabitants of Yakutsk, Russia. For it is in Yakutsk, the coldest large city on Earth, that temperatures drop to an eye-chilling -95°F. Which, as the video below shows, is cold enough to turn a banana into a hammer.
Laughing Squid picked up on the above bundle of icy experiments in Yakutsk. Beijing-based video creator Kiun B stars in the video; showing us all why we should be truly thankful for sunshine and warmth and food that doesn’t freeze between when it’s on our plates and in our mouths.
The video features Kiun performing six experiments in her hometown—she moved out of the republic of Russia containing Yakutsk, although we can’t imagine why—and each one is a reminder of why we regularly pray to Ra, the ancient Egyptian god of the Sun. (JK, everybody knows if you’re going to bow down to an Egyptian deity it has to be Bastet the cat-human.)
The experiments include everything from blowing freezing soap bubbles to turning a wet shirt into icy cloth cardboard. Although it’s the handful of demonstrations involving food that really stand out. Kiun, for example, shows how she’s able to crack an egg in a pan and immediately have it freeze into a rock-solid omelette. Likewise, she’s able to take a banana and apple and, by simply leaving them outside for several minutes, turn them rock hard. And capable of literally hammering nails.
The real standout experiment, however, is the freezing of the tub o’ noodles, because it’s borderline magic. Kiun shows how even noodles in boiling water will freeze before she can get them into her mouth. In midair, as if a White Walker had gazed at them and cursed them in Skroth. Also, we’re making a lot of Game of Thrones references here because we’re guessing Yakutsk will warm over before The Winds of Winter comes out and this is all we have!