Any mention of ice on Valentine's Day SHOULD be about diamonds.

That's the kind of ice that women want on February 14th, not the stuff that makes you grip your steering wheel and trip and fall as you get out of your car.

The timing of the Valentine's Day storm in the Northeast is making me question why diamonds are in fact called ice. I know that diamonds don't melt, nor do they fall from the sky (too bad!), and they are much more expensive than the bags of ice we buy to stock the cooler in the summer.

Here's the answer: Diamonds are called "ice" for good reason - and a hot reason at that! When you touch a diamond to your lips, it feels very cold (I do this all the time) because of its high thermal conductivity. Essentially, the diamond is stealing the heat from your lips.

This phenomenon is particular to diamonds because of how strong its conducting ability is compared to other gems. Besides the obvious bling factor of these precious stones, the exceptional conducting property of diamonds is also being used to extract heat from electronic devices to make them smaller and more powerful. Who knew? Now you do.

Happy Valentine's Day and watch out for the ice (the slippery stuff)!