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Rethinking the Wetsuit
symbolset writes "Apparently Australians have come up with the brilliant idea: if you don't want to be eaten by a shark, it's best to not go swimming in shark-infested waters in a seal costume. 'Scientists from the University of Western Australia, with designers Shark Attack Mitigation Systems (SAMS), have unveiled two new wetsuits that they say could save lives in the water. Based on a breakthrough discovery that sharks are colour-blind, one wetsuit, labelled the "Elude," is designed to camouflage a swimmer or diver in the sea. At the other extreme, the "Diverter" sports bold white and dark-blue stripes, and is intended to mirror nature's warning signs to ward off any potential shark attack.'"
But when I dive (and I do, often), I want to be seen. That said, I don't dive in shark prone areas.
Shark Week starts August 4th this year.
laser armed sharks.
it looks just like the ship camo the Navy used in WW2, but since it's applied to sharks instead of the Japanese, we deserve a patent!
So this is a really safe wet suite. Your entire body becomes invisible, except for your head, which is only about the size of a fish. What could go wrong?
Surely it's an evolutionary advantage to any creature to be marked as 'not shark food'. Why aren't all fish stripey ?
Because they work so well for Zebras
"Duke: Well, our chefs have been experimenting for many years to find a sauce most likely to tempt the crocodile. In the past, we've concentrated on a fish based sauce, but this year, we are reverting to a simple bernaise.
Loothesom: The British team are worried because Olympic regulations allow only the competitor's heads to be sauced. Gavin Morolowe...
Morolowe: Yes, well, I mean, (clears throat) you know, four years ago, everyone knew the Italians were coating the insides of their legs with bolinaise, the Russians have been marinating themselves, One of the Germans, Biolek, was caught actually putting, uh, remolarde down his shorts. And the Finns were using tomato flavoured running shoes. Uh, I think there should either be unrestricted garnishing, or a single, Olympic standard mayonnaise."
In order to create a truly shark repellent suit, designers need to mimic the colors of the shark's most fearsome predator - the mottled reddish-brown paint scheme on the hulls of commercial fishing fleets harvesting the sea for Fillet-O-Fish sandwiches.
THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK.
And how did they calculate their failure rate? ie "8 out of 10 divers managed to swim unharmed through a pack of sharks..."
ace buen tiempo
You can see where their mindset is: "We have converted that into patents"...
Lets save lives, but be damn sure that we get paid for every single one.
Why is taxpayer-funded scientific research being patented in the first place? I've heard the argument before: Australian taxpayers paid for it, and deserve to profit from it. But what about American taxpayers, British taxpayers, Canadian taxpayers, etc? Is there no taxpayer-funded research done in any of those countries that could be considered a fair trade for Australian discoveries?
If you're a zombie and you know it, bite your friend!
I can point to another advantage of the striped suit.
As a recreational diver, one occasionally drops a piece of equipment in the water. Bold, striped colors would make it much easier to find something (a fin, say) laying on the bottom.
And to respond to a previous poster, they covered pots of chum (chopped fish) in the proposed experimental suit to see how sharks would react. The video clearly shows sharks attacking a square-dotted suit while veering away from the striped suit.
Seems like an innovation discovered by research and experimental method. I have no problem with them having a patent on this.
The "bees" common in my area where I grew up were not bees at all, but flies, with no stingers, which had bee stripes. I know they aren't the only animals who have fake "not food" markings.
We're here on the West Australian coast, which is now the deadliest coast in the world
Yes, the deadliest coast in the world. 16 attacks (not all fatal) in... a decade. And how many millions swim off the coast every year? Even if you take Australia as a whole, on average the number of people killed by sharks per year is: one
If you want to avoid being attacked by a shark, I'd like to sell you this tiger^h^h^h^h^h shark repelling rock. It's much cheaper than a brand new wetsuit, and statistically equally as effective!
Another example - six species of non-dangerous snakes mimic the bright stripe pattern of coral snakes.
When sharks use electromagnetic field changes to detect their prey at close range, I don't know how much they'll care about your stripes anymore.
Honest question. Why use wetsuits in WA at all? I've lived in Perth, WA, and I can't imagine why anyone would want to put on something extra since it's so damn hot all the time.
And yes, sharks.... but they are less annoying/dangerous than the local Christians who writes letters to the editor in the local newspaper, explaining why sharks should be exterminated because they're not part of God's plan.
Works about as well as holding your breath to turn invisible.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark#Electroreception
"I am shark food" is more attractive to females who prefer "I want a mate who has proven that he can outrun sharks". It's signaling, just like what a peahen looks for.
Ever see a shark eat a zebra?
I can't believe that Sharknado missed that one! Something for the sequel...
"Once we've identified and embraced our sickness, we'll have strength...and that's when we get dangerous." - John Waters
..be signing up for beta testing. No thankee, even with a free ocean cruise and diving thrown in.
Silence is a state of mime.
This is idiotic. Sharks don't hunt with their eyes, they have lateral lines.
not going in the water in the first place, problem solved.
A surfer paddling on the surface is back lit by the sun. A shadow against the sun is going to appear black no matter what color the suit.
This isn't a problem for scuba diving. However, shark attacks on scuba divers are quite rare even without special wet suits. Sharks' MO is to watch for seals near the surface and lunge upward to catch them. Scuba divers don't linger on the surface and under water they don't look anything like seals.
""We have converted that into patents that we know will hide [wearers] or present wearers as not shark food."
They won't feed the sharks but it seems feeding the patent trolls is just as bad....
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
I know there have been fights in the lineup, and stealing someone's wave is a big no-no, but really, chain mail? Broadswords? A mace? Is that what StandUpPaddle boards are really about? Single combat on the waves?
What about kevlar and a automatic rifle?
even seals are ordering them
Table-ized A.I.
I've kind of done that "avoid predation" thing in bad neighborhoods. With my "nobody's going to fuck with me" walk, apparently some people have thought I was a cop. That's okay, as long as they didn't think I was a victim.
The camo suit looks remarkably like the costume that the late Neal Pozner designed for Aquaman back in the 80s.
http://alternatives.rzero.com/
... or that their ability to smell is very bad. That suit is going to be hide you very, very well from any shark near.
Oh, never mind: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark#Smell
Unless you're into that sort of thing.
Now one can become safe from sharks, now one has to worry about attacks from orcas thinking that the human in this Not-A-Seal-Costume® is a shark.
--
Another fine opinion from The Fucking Psychopath®.
...says the shark!
Whoever came up with this doesn't know much about sharks.
Most sharks and other carnivorous fish hunt from below, looking upward for their prey's silhouette against the bright and shiny sea surface. Doesn't matter what color your wetsuit is, it's not going to break up your silhouette.
In fact, the reason prey fish have silvery sides and bellies is to blend in with the shiny sea surface. You could try a reflective websuit, I suppose, but then you'd look even more like a fish.
Maybe I'm missing something, but I thought that sharks didn't need colour vision, due to their highly acute sense of smell, and the fact that they are so sensitive to electrical impulses that they can detect your heartbeat through your goddamn skin. This makes them the sea's highly evolved prey-seeking death machines. Visual spectrum camouflage doesn't mean a thing. Highly visible weird looking wetsuits seems to make more sense than that.
My diving instructor told me about it.
I don't know if it works, or not, but it's not a radical new idea.
[Scene: Interior. A New York apartment. There is a knock at the door.]
Woman: [speaking through closed door] Yes?
Voice: (mumbling) Mrs. Arlsburgerhhh?
Woman: Who?
Voice: (mumbling) Mrs. Johannesburrrr?
Woman: Who is it?
Voice: [pause] Flowers.
Woman: Flowers for whom?
Voice: [long pause] Plumber, ma'am.
Woman: I don't need a plumber. You're that clever shark, aren't you?
Voice: [pause] Candygram.
Woman: Candygram, my foot! You get out of here before I call the police! You're the shark, and you know it!
Voice: Wait. I-I'm only a dolphin, ma'am.
Woman: A dolphin? Well... Okay. [opens door]
[Huge latex and foam-rubber shark head lunges through open door, chomps down on woman's head, and drags her out of the apartment, as Jaws attack music plays.]
Source: wikipedia
So Yum Yum Yellow is out?
here, fixed for you.
It seems that Randall Munroe is obsessed not only with velociraptors, but also with sharks.
And the WW2 dazzle patterns were used by European navies in WW1 before that....
ok yes sharks hate stripes, but sea snakes love them !! imagine a few dozen of the worlds most poisonous snakes getting amorous with you..
{ Pillar candles great for when the power fails and you cant see the keyboard..