Drew Harvell

And so, I mean, I just get lost when I'm diving just watching them because they're so beautiful. And, you know, functionally, they seem to be very, very simple. But then when you look deeper, they have amazing functions. And sponges have been of great interest to natural products chemists because it was found that the highest hit rate for anti-cancer drugs was from tropical sponges.

We thought the sponges themselves made the chemicals, but we've learned that often it's the bacteria, particular species of bacteria that are housed within the sponge that actually do the chemical synthesis of these compounds.

We thought the sponges themselves made the chemicals, but we've learned that often it's the bacteria, particular species of bacteria that are housed within the sponge that actually do the chemical synthesis of these compounds.

We thought the sponges themselves made the chemicals, but we've learned that often it's the bacteria, particular species of bacteria that are housed within the sponge that actually do the chemical synthesis of these compounds.

I love this one because a sponge that's bright green, it's in the inner tidal, everywhere, hyalocondria panacea, very common. It houses a strain of streptomyces bacteria that produces a chemical, and that is now being used in clinical trials for a whole range of different cancers, melanoma, pancreatic cancer, and renal cancer.

I love this one because a sponge that's bright green, it's in the inner tidal, everywhere, hyalocondria panacea, very common. It houses a strain of streptomyces bacteria that produces a chemical, and that is now being used in clinical trials for a whole range of different cancers, melanoma, pancreatic cancer, and renal cancer.

I love this one because a sponge that's bright green, it's in the inner tidal, everywhere, hyalocondria panacea, very common. It houses a strain of streptomyces bacteria that produces a chemical, and that is now being used in clinical trials for a whole range of different cancers, melanoma, pancreatic cancer, and renal cancer.

It's being used now. They don't actually pull it out of sponges now. They've actually learned how to create a synthetic derivative. I could go on and on. And I kind of do in the book. I talk about quite a few examples of cancer drugs that have actually been discovered and produced from sponges.

It's being used now. They don't actually pull it out of sponges now. They've actually learned how to create a synthetic derivative. I could go on and on. And I kind of do in the book. I talk about quite a few examples of cancer drugs that have actually been discovered and produced from sponges.

It's being used now. They don't actually pull it out of sponges now. They've actually learned how to create a synthetic derivative. I could go on and on. And I kind of do in the book. I talk about quite a few examples of cancer drugs that have actually been discovered and produced from sponges.

Oh my God, sea slugs are just, they're the most enchanting of the invertebrates in many ways, just because they're a ridiculous circus of colors and shapes. Black backgrounds with lime green stripes and polka dots or yellow or pink. They have these beautiful projections that look like flowers all over their backs.

Oh my God, sea slugs are just, they're the most enchanting of the invertebrates in many ways, just because they're a ridiculous circus of colors and shapes. Black backgrounds with lime green stripes and polka dots or yellow or pink. They have these beautiful projections that look like flowers all over their backs.

Oh my God, sea slugs are just, they're the most enchanting of the invertebrates in many ways, just because they're a ridiculous circus of colors and shapes. Black backgrounds with lime green stripes and polka dots or yellow or pink. They have these beautiful projections that look like flowers all over their backs.

I mean, I think everybody who's seen a nudibranch falls in love with it just because they're so beautiful.

I mean, I think everybody who's seen a nudibranch falls in love with it just because they're so beautiful.

I mean, I think everybody who's seen a nudibranch falls in love with it just because they're so beautiful.

Right.

Right.

Right.

We have a nudibranch that lives in the Pacific Northwest that eats sea anemones. And when it eats a sea anemone, it uptakes the stinging cells that sea anemones use in their own defense. They select the immature stinging cells so they don't explode when they're eating them. They pass them all the way through their digestive system and into these little packages on their back.