A sea sponge manufactures more advanced optical fibre than humans

[acerbic]

:-)

Scientists say they have identified an ocean sponge living in the darkness of the deep sea that grows thin glass fibers capable of transmitting light at least as well as industrial fiber optic cables used for telecommunication. The natural glass fibers also are much more flexible than manufactured fiber optic cable that can crack if bent too far.

“YOU CAN ACTUALLY tie a knot in these natural biological fibers and they will not break — it’s really quite amazing,” said Joanna Aizenberg, who led the research at Bell Laboratories.

The glassy sponge, nicknamed the “Venus flower basket,” grows the flexible fibers at cold temperatures using natural materials, a process materials scientists hope to duplicate in order to avoid the problems created by current fiber-optic manufacturing methods that require high temperatures and produce relatively brittle cable.

The sponge also is able to add traces of sodium to the fibers that increase their ability to conduct light, something that cannot be done to glass fibers at the high temperatures needed for commercial manufacturing, Aizenberg said.
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http://www.msnbc.com/news/954985.asp

[silverweb]

1. Wow...

And for those - and you know who you are! - who are "offended" when you're reminded that we are a lonnnng way from knowing everything about anything, let this remind you "...how valuable life in the ocean can be... and how much of the ocean remains to be explored."

Conservation, preservation, and exploration, anyone?

O8)

[Emillereid]

2. And we won't even know what we don't know

until the next paradigm shift. The universe is awesome!

[freethought]

3. Cool!

A lesson learned. If there is a problem in need of solving there is an an answer somewhere in nature.

[dArKeR]

4. Deep Sea Holds Fiber Secret CBS. I love these kinds of stories and I hate

Bush/GOPism spending all our money and resources on murdering Muslims when we could be using our energy to explore wonders like this!

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2003/08/21/tech/main569419.shtml

[BrokenSegue]

5. Superiority

This goes along with my theory that animals around the world are our superiors and are laughing down on us.