Abstract
The vast majority of stars in the Universe end their evolution as white dwarfs. Isolated white dwarfs fade away with time, while if in binaries the gravitational wave emission might reduce the separation to the point when mass transfer sets in. Interacting white dwarfs are suspected to produce neutron stars, extreme He stars, R Coronae Borealis stars, AM CVn stars and, maybe more spectacularly, Type Ia Supernovae. In this talk I will discuss a new mechanism to trigger surface explosions of white dwarfs and possibly initiate a type Ia supernova.