Seashells are magical creatures, in sync with our biorhythm and the music that is playing in our souls. That’s why we place our ear against them to listen to the ocean orchestra, how the soothing notes lift us up to another plane of existence. Perhaps that’s why so many of us feel comfortable on the beach, comfortable digging our toes in the sand. We’re not really digging in the sand, but digging into ourselves – trying to hit the clock core of us and see what really makes us tick.

In that context, think of seashells as the guardians of the beaches inside our bodies, those soothing places that we so often keep hidden due to the grind of the world, realities that encroach on our dreams and force them to walk away from the freedom of the sea. We’re shorelines and hopes – that’s humanity in a nutshell. While we have an important psychic connection with seashells, we also look to them for inspiration in our daily lives, in the weekday grinds, as pointed out in this article about seashell strength and recent research regarding it.

The article states, “Mollusks got it right. They have soft innards, but their complex exteriors are engineered to protect them in harsh conditions. […] By modeling the average mollusk’s mobile habitat, they are learning how shells stand up to extraordinary pressures at the bottom of the sea. The goal is to learn what drove these tough exoskeletons to evolve as they did and to see how their mechanical principles may be adapted for use in human-scale structures like vehicles and even buildings.”

That is amazing stuff – while I deal with the personal, almost psychic connection between us and seashells, this team of researchers is hoping to utilize seashell strength and implement it in our social infrastructure. What do you think? Can you imagine a city with a skyline of seashells? Impervious to the pressures of the weather? Of time? That seems like it would be a beautiful city. Let me know what you think!