Block of the Week: Sponge

Oh no! We've spilt lemonade all over our keyboard! By the time we finish writing Block of the Week, our fingers will be so sticky and reeking of lemon, that we'll be the laughing stock of the office. Our colleagues will point their fingers at us and laugh, both to ridicule us and humblebrag about how non-sticky their fingers are.

But wait! Using a handy sponge, we can clean our keyboard with ease! And then throw the filthy sponge at our co-workers as revenge for potentially mocking us in the future. Perfect! Just like in real life, sponges in Minecraft have handy aborbant powers. Once placed, the sponge block will slurp up surrounding water and any more water that's foolish enough to cross its path. Impressively, this thirsty block can drink up to 65 water blocks before becoming a wet sponge. Sadly, a wet sponge can't absorb any more H20, it's glory days now long behind it. That's truly tragic, enough to bring a tear to my eyes. Better not though - the wet sponge won't be able to soak it up.

Real world sponges aren't just the yellow household ones you use to clean your toilet and kitchen (not in that order please). Our oceans are packed with over 8000 known species of sponge, in a kaleidoscopic variety of vibrant colours. It's a common misconception that these sponges are plant life. They're actually animals, albeit animals that don't have heads, eyes, brains, arms, legs, ears, muscles, nerves or organs. As an animal who possesses all of those things except arguably the brain, I can't help but feel sponges are really phoning it in. You've been around for 500 million years and still haven't grown even just one little ear? Pathetic.

We're only teasing. We love sponges really! Particularly the one that could play a crucial part in helping cancer patients. Or the sponge recently developed by scientists at the University of Minnesota that can remove deadly mercury from water.