Medicine The orange elephant ear sponge may become a powerful new weapon in the fight against cancer. Since the discovery in 1993 that bacteria in the sponge give off chemicals that kill cancer cells, scientists have tried to reproduce the substances in a lab. Collectively, the substances are called agelastatins, inspired by the sponge’s Latin name, Agelas clathrodes. Previously, scientists only succeeded in creating a few of the six known agelastatin types. But now, MIT professor Mohammad Movassaghi and his team have found an easy and affordable method to produce all six types of agelastatin. Consequently, it may now be possible to produce relatively large quantities of agelastatin and test the cancer- inhibiting qualities in cooperation with other scientists and the pharmaceutical industry. The method could also enable scientists to produce versions of the substance that are not found in nature and that may have an even stronger cancer-inhibiting effect.