It may be too basic for you, but I liked this 2005 overview from Physics Today: http://www.chemistry.northwestern.edu/documents/about/RosenbergPhysicsToday.pdf

It may be too basic for you, but I liked this 2005 overview from Physics Today: http://www.chemistry.northwestern.edu/documents/about/RosenbergPhysicsToday.pdf http://www.chemistry.northwestern.edu/documents/about/Rosenb... The problem with the popularly held "pressure melts the ice" theory is that ice can still be very slippery even at temperature-pressure points that are not explained by that explanation. It may be misleading to say that ice's slipperyness is "not understood", but it still is definitely an area of active research, with the understanding and theories evolving more rapidly than one might expect for something "obvious".