Fibre-optic sponge intrigues scientists, as reported in Nature, vol. 424, p899, 21 August 2003. Vikram Sundar of Bell Laboratories/Lucent Technologies, New Jersey (USA) and colleagues have analysed the glass-like spicules that form the skeleton of a species of deep sea sponge named Euplectella, and found they have properties surprisingly similar to those of commercial telecommunication fibres – except that the spicules themselves are formed under normal ambient conditions and have some technological advantages over man-made versions, i.e. they are made at low temperatures and they don’t crack, unlike man made optical fibres that have to be made at high temperatures and are prone to crack.
Editorial Comment: Sponge optical fibres are technologically superior because they were designed and built by a superior engineer. Evolutionists regard sponges as primitive bottom dwelling creatures, but the more we examine so-called simple forms of life the more evidence we find of highly intelligent design. (Ref. sponge, fibre-optics, design)