Monday, December 7, 2009

Slim Sponge Sheds

    The sponge Halisarca caerulea can absorb its body weight in carbon in 1.5 days.  Despite this, it barely grows in size at all.  Now, researchers have found that the reason for it slow growth is that its cells divide very quickly, but are also shed from the sponge extremely quickly.  This is apparently done to protect the sponge from toxic substances: any such substances will be quickly flushed out from the sponge.

http://www.dnaindia.com/scitech/report_how-the-sponge-stays-slim_1312829

-Brown Rhino 

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