Sponges are, for lack of a better term,
weird. Aside from being some of the most ancient animals on Earth, these marine
invertebrates maintain their shape and stiffness with a matrix of glass. Their
spiny silica-based spicules grow and branch to form wicked shapes, from thin
needles to spiked spheres. But no one knew precisely how sponges could make
such a wide variety of symmetrical shapes. So scientists investigated their 3D
structure using x-ray nanotomography, a way of peering within tiny structures
without destroying them.
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