People are not often aware of how scientists frequently base their research on things already existing in the natural world that God created. Until the invention of the electron microscope, cells were believed to be simple, consisting of nothing but indeterminate protoplasm. Cells are now know to be anything but simple – each one a miracle of complexity. Scientists are now adapting the structure of fascinating deep sea sponges – to achieve phenomenal strength – coupled with flexibility. From Creation Moments:

Psalm 107:24

“These see the works of the LORD, and his wonders in the deep.”

“The most perfect design I’ve ever seen.” Those words were uttered by a materials engineer after studying a deep sea sponge from the Pacific Ocean. And, indeed, the Euplectella aspergillun, claimed to be an early and primitive sponge, can teach modern materials engineers a number of useful things.

The sponge’s body is made up of a thin layer of cells over an intricate glass skeleton. The sponge grows into a cylindrical shape about 8 inches long and about an inch across. The wonder lies in the glass skeleton that is made up of vertical and horizontal beams of glass. Diagonal beams strengthen this grid. One-third of these beams are thicker than the others, adding the extra strength of ridges to the cylinder. What’s more, each of these glass beams is made up of small cylinders of glass glued together with more glass-like tree rings. The result is a structure that spreads the pressures that might crush an ordinary glass structure this size. It is a delicate looking, but nearly unbreakable, glass structure.

In a less-than-scientific test, one researcher noted that one has to jump full weight on one of these cylinders to even produce any cracking, and such jumping will still not break it. “The most perfect design I’ve ever seen,” said the researcher. There’s little that we at Creation Moments can add to that.

http://www.creationmoments.com/radio/transcripts/most-perfect-design-i-ve-ever-seen

The more tech minded may enjoy this video showing the lab simulation of a deep sea sponge spicule (a slender pointed usually hard body; especially : one of the minute calcareous or siliceous bodies that support the tissue of various invertebrates (as sponges)