Deep under the sea lies a creature that sort of looks like a ghostly tulip. The glass rope sponge has a cup-shaped, filter-feeding top and a thin anemone-covered stem tethering it to the ground. One ...

Glass sponges are taking over a newly sunlit strip of Antarctic marine real estate at a blistering clip, surprising biologists who had no idea they had it in them. Glass sponges are taking over a ...

Materials made by man and those made by biological organisms often deal with similar synthesis challenges – occasionally converging on an analogous solution independently. One example is the giant ...

Aquanautix is a PhD marine biologist interested in deep-sea exploration, science, education, and policy. For more posts like these see the new Aquanautix Blog, online since August 2010. Biomaterial ...

Sponges may conjure visions of the soft and squishy, but some of those living deep beneath the sea build complex glass structures that are marvels of engineering. The sponge, from the genus ...

Scientists have discovered large colonies of glass sponges thriving on the seafloor 30 miles off the coast of Washington. The species of glass sponges capable of building reefs were thought extinct ...

Recent research from the University of Alberta reveals how fishing practices like trawling may be affecting the health of sponges that act like natural water filters. Biologist Sally Leys and ...

It takes an experienced deep-water diver like Hamish Tweed to reach most of the glass sponge reefs. You have to descend more than 60 metres into the depths of B.C.'s Howe Sound where, even in the ...

In the frigid, inky ocean depths beneath permanent ice shelves, life tends to move pretty slowly. But a recent expedition to the seafloor under a newly thawed Antarctic ice sheet has revealed an ...

For the strongest glass you can imagine, look for sponges at the bottom of the ocean. If you find cartoon superstar SpongeBob Square Pants, keep looking; he’s a bath sponge with a soft skeleton and no ...