The deep-sea Venus’s flower-basket uses spicules to weave an intricate glass lattice of spectacular beauty. The ultrapure silica fibers closely resemble commercially designed fiber-optic cables. “These bio-optical fibers are extremely tough,” explains one scientist. “You could tie them in tight knots and, unlike commercial fiber, they would still not crack.” How these sophisticated fibers develop in seawater and at low temperatures has scientists baffled. “In this case, a relatively simple organism has a solution to a very complex problem in integrated optics and materials design,” says Cherry Murray of Bell Laboratories.

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Sponge spicules

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Venus’s flower-basket