REAL LIFE NEWS: SHARK-PROOF WETSUITS
by Hazed
Surfers worried about being attacked by a shark might wish there was such a thing as a shark-repellent bat-spray, as used by Batman in the very cheesy 1966 Batman film. But now there’s a new way to repel sharks: a shark-proof wetsuit.
Two Australian businessmen have come up with a blue and white suit which they call Elude. It’s said to make divers and surfers much less visible to sharks. The blue and white pattern draws on research into the way sharks see their prey.
Another design, the Diverter, consists of black and white strips which is supposed to signal that the wearer is not good to eat.
Using new scientific insights into the way sharks perceive light and colour, they claim the wetsuits will camouflage anyone wearing them in the water, because they confuse the shark’s visual system.
The wetsuits were tested using dummies, some wearing the new black and white suits and others garbed in traditional black wetsuits. Tiger sharks just swam past the dummies in the striped suits, but attacked the ones wearing black.
Shark attacks are common in the waters around Australia so if the Elude and Diverter wetsuits work they could be very useful. And they look cool, too!
