Researchers have found a way to make bubbles that could last as long as a year, which could be used to make icecream fluffier and ultrasounds clearer.

Engineering student Ms Emilie Dressaire and her colleagues from Harvard University in the United States, have found that adding a sugar coating, bubbles could last for up to 12 months.

Their findings are published in this week's edition of Science.

Bubbles give foods, cosmetics and other products an airy texture.

Her team created the long-lasting bubble by aerating a sugary solution of highly vicious glucose syrup with sucrose stearate and water at room temperature for two hours. The result was a foam with a crystalline structure that protected the bubbles from popping.

The sucrose stearate formed an armour coating around the bubbles, preventing them from popping.

They also could be used to replace fat molecules in food products, such as icecream.