Soaking Up Rays

A primitive marine creature has natural-glass fibers that hint at high tech

As a heavy rod of glass sinks into a searing furnace, a wheel below it whirs. Every second that the drum turns, it pulls almost another meter of glass fiber off the softened end of the translucent shaft.

Light is a scarce resource in the twilight world of Rossella racovitzae, especially during the long, dark polar winter, when ice covers Antarctic seas.