Engineers from the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences have discovered that the skeletal structure of the marine sponge Euplectella aspergillum, commonly known as Venus’ flower basket, could serve as an inspiration for construction materials to build the next generation of sky-scrapers and bridges.
Venus’ flower basket is made of glassy skeletal elements called spicules, which make up its internal structure. Each spicule consists of a central protein core surrounded by layers of silica nanoparticles interspersed with thin organic interlayers.
The spicules are further organized to form a highly regular square grid reinforced by two intersecting sets of paired diagonal beams, creating a checkerboard-like pattern of alternating open and closed cells. This unique hierarchical architecture lends it mechanical robustness.
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