spongelike

If comb jellies, with a nervous system and muscles, are the deepest branch on the animal tree, then early animals may have not been simple and spongelike.

Ertürk’s team found that treating mouse bodies for 2 weeks with a chemical called beta-cyclodextrin dissolves cholesterol in the cell membrane, creating spongelike holes in the whole organism without damaging other parts of the tissues.

In Florida, “hardened” waterfront properties have replaced “spongelike” wetlands and mangroves that were more able to absorb storm surges and rainfall, as Strader has explained.

The researchers first modeled spongelike environments on a computer and found that varying chamber sizes would allow many different bacterial strains to thrive.

Dr. Amber Nolan points to a particularly shriveled, spongelike tip dangling from a section of the temporal lobe.