Since the first fiber optic cables rolled out in the 1970s, they’ve become a major part of everything from medical devices to high-speed internet and cable TV.
Since the first fiber optic cables rolled out in the 1970s, they’ve become a major part of everything from medical devices to high-speed internet and cable TV. But as it turns out, one group of marine mollusks was way ahead of us.
A new study reveals that clams called heart cockles -– so-named because of their heart-shaped shells -- have unique structures in their shells that act like fiber optic cables to convey specific wavelengths of light into the bivalves’ tissues.
Researchers from Duke University and Stanford University used electron and laser microscopy and computer simulations of heart cockles to discover that their shells are designed with translucent areas consisting of hair-thin strands, arranged in bundles, that deliver light deep within.
Read more at Duke University
Image: Heart cockles have shells with built-in skylights to let in light for symbiotic algae. (Photo credit: Dakota McCoy)
