in Vernor Vinge's novel A Deepness in the Sky the alien planet freezes for part of the year and the intelligent aliens have evolved to survive being frozen and thawed. One group develops technology to say unfrozen while their enemies are frozen and this gives them a huge advantage.
Great book and I highly recommend it. Also has concepts of realistic mind control that is VERY creepy and the ultimate in distributed computing based on smart dust.
Ya' know, Oly was very happy to find his farm was in Iowa, rather than Minnesota. When his friend Sven asked him why, given that taxes were higher in Iowa, Oly replied "Vell, now I don't have to put up vith those lousy Minnesota vinters no more!"
Life in that planet evolved to essentially hibernate during their long winter. Presumably the processes that resulted in the very earliest life forms happened countless times until some surfaced that had that feature.
Great book and I highly recommend it. Also has concepts of realistic mind control that is VERY creepy and the ultimate in distributed computing based on smart dust.