Ocean Sponge May Be Best for Fiber Optics

TheViffer writes "ABC News is reporting that scientists say they've identified an ocean sponge, living in the darkness of the deep sea, that grows thin glass fibers capable of transmitting light better than industrial fiber optic cables used for telecommunication. '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."

Comments

More fracture resistant than commercial fibers

[Phiz]

The paper in Nature about on this research says the sponge fibers are more fracture resistant than commercial fibers because of a layer of organic ligands at the fiber's exterior. Now if we can just genetically engineer them to grow a few hundered miles in length...

Why

[slasher_14]

Nature does things for a reason...I wonder why this creature uses fibre optic to anchor itself to the ocean floor. I doubt it is using the fibre optic to communicate...Perhaps it is using it because it happens to also be very flexible and strong at the same time, the fact that it could also be used for transporting light is a co-incidence.

Re:Why

[ratfynk]

Bioluminesence is a key survival adaptation in the Ocean. I would suspect that these sponges use this for display/territorial mating purposes. This is in essence the ultimate form of communication. Kind of an Ocean bottom laser rock concert where the participants get turned on or off by the flashing lights. Kind of works with humans too!

What is more interesting to me is; What are the chemical light trigger mechanisms? Could these be used in switching? Sort of a biochem based switching device. There is much that we can learn from nature. The technical application of that knowledge is the real challenge.

I'm torn on this one...

[geekwench]

On one hand, it's amazing that we can use things that developed naturally to enhance our lives and assist our technological growth. OTOH, it distresses me that the mindset is becoming more prevalent that the only reason to value the natural world is because of what the things we find there can do to enhance our lives and further our technology.

[sarcasm] Silly me. I'd forgotten that it's unfashionable to appreciate a tree (flower, sponge, animal) for its own sake and nothing else. [/sarcasm]

Snarky comments aside, I do hope that discoveries like this one will once again illustrate why we need to be better conservators of what is, so far, the only planet we've got.

Re:7 inches long!

[spun]

Um, I know this was meant as joke, but the point is that the sponge makes the fibers at low temperatures, doped with sodium, and if materials engineers could figure out how, they could precisely control the physical and optical properties of manmade fibers.

We need a new acronym for "Read the WHOLE freakin' article." RTWFA, man, RTWFA

Science Fact?

[Starquake]

Frank Herbert wrote about the exact same thing in his book "The Ascension Factor." Only there it was sentient kelp. The coolest part was how the kelp could create ultra realistic holograms. Wouldn't that be an interesting twist on display technology?

Index of Refraction?

[lostchicken]

What's the index of refraction, as compared to glass fibre? This is one of the factors that limits flexability, and is really quite important.

Where Japan SHOULD direct funding...

[whatch durrin]

And Japan wants to spend how many gazillions on space exploration?

This is one reason why we should be keeping more of the research money on terra firma. As far as helping humankind, the oceans have much more to offer than Mars or a passing meteor or a distant galaxy (at least at this point). I'm not saying that stuff isn't academically enriching, but it doesn't (directly) solve our earth-bound problems.

The obvious question ....

[Evil Pete]

What does a sponge need with such superior optical fibres ? Could they in fact use it for other purposes inside their bodies, such as optical communication ? ... now that would be amazing!