Heart-shaped mollusc has windows that work like fibre optics

 

Image courtesy of Dakota McCoy

Joel Kontinen

Tiny, solid windows in the shells of heart cockles let in light for the photosynthetic algae inside them – and they could show us how to make better fibre-optic cables.

This is a case for intelligent design, the molluscs item may be used for better fibre-optic cables. 

It relies also on biomimicry. Biomimicry or biomimetics has recently become a success, that is, copying amazing design seen in nature, has become a flourishing research field.

“A heart-shaped mollusc has evolved tiny windows that work like fibre-optic cables, the first known example in nature.”

The word evolved is an oxymoron. The species does not evolve, it develops it.

!Heart cockles (Corculum cardissa) are bivalve molluscs a bit like clams that have a symbiotic relationship with photosynthetic algae that live inside them. The algae have a safe home, get light to photosynthesise and provide nutrients for their hosts.

Unlike other bivalves, heart cockles don’t open their shells up wide, yet they somehow funnel light to their interior even while staying shut.

Now, Dakota McCoy at the University of Chicago and her colleagues have found that there are transparent calcium carbonate crystal structures in the heart cockle shells that function like fibre-optic bundles, letting light inside to bathe the algae. “If you don’t have to open and can just have a transparent window, that’s a very safe way to irradiate your algae,” says McCoy.”

Source:

 Alex Wilkins 2024 Heart-shaped mollusc has windows that work like fibre optics | New Scientist 19 November