Sea sponges may seem like simple creatures, but…

One sea sponge turned out to be 2,000 years old. And older giant barrel sponges appear to have a faster rate of cell division, unlike us. They produce antibiotics and much, much more. Lina Bayona Maldonado studied how the differences in such factors as age or oceanic depth affect the production of all those substances. Ph.D. defense on 22 April.

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