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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.'"
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!
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.
Actually patterns on wet suits to look unappetizing to sharks was done around 20 or 30 years ago. It was also done for surf boards as well.
They may not have been these exact designs, but the idea itself isn't new at all.
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.