Heart cockle shells in natural light (top row) and illuminated from within to show the transparent shell windows, which vary from little triangles to stripes to mosaics. Credit: Dakota McCoy A team of ...

Healthy corals are colorful and full of life. And under normal conditions, corals and algae depend on one another. The corals offer the algae protection and the photosynthesizing algae provide the ...

A heart cockle shell has been found to let in light through a design that resembles fiber optic cables. This could inspire everything from helping coral survive to designing new camera lenses. There's ...

A heart-shaped mollusc has evolved tiny windows that work like fibre-optic cables, the first known example in nature. Heart cockles (Corculum cardissa) are bivalve molluscs a bit like clams that have ...

DURHAM, N.C. -- Since the first fiber optic cables rolled out in the 1970s, they’ve become a major part of everything from medical devices to high-speed internet and cable TV. But as it turns out, one ...

This week’s low midafternoon tides provided excellent beachcombing conditions around lunchtime. I found a variety of treasures, including pen shells, pear whelks, and hundreds of Atlantic cockles.