Jawsome! Scientists are working on a ‘shark-proof’ swimsuit to save people from life-threatening injuries if bitten by the deadly predators
- Researchers at Flinders University in Adelaide, Australia, are creating the suit
- Material would be designed to stop the huge blood loss than often causes death
- Testing of the material is due to start soon soon in a common shark hotspot
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Australian scientists are working on a revolutionary new wetsuit to protect people from fatal shark attacks.
Experts at Flinders University, Adelaide, are busy developing a prototype made from strong synthetic fibers, similar to those found in bullet-proof vests.
Although it couldn’t withstand the force of the predator’s jaw, it may help limit tissue damage and reduce blood-loss, which often causes death.
The ambitious project has been supported with a $90,000 (£48,000) government grant.
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Ambitious: Although it couldn’t withstand the force of the predator’s jaw, the new wetsuit may help limit tissue damage and reduce blood-loss, which often causes death
‘The majority of fatalities from shark bites is due to blood loss, or the shock from blood loss,’ Charlie Huveneers, associate professor at Flinders University, told 9News.
‘We want new technologies, a new way of doing business when it comes to interacting with sharks.
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‘If we can reduce that blood loss from minimising injury, and with rapid emergency responses, we can hopefully increase the survival rate of people being bitten by sharks.’
Testing of the material is due to start later this year in a common shark hotspot off the Spencer Gulf, west of Adelaide.
A Great White Shark exerts roughly 4,000 pounds of force through its jaws via 50 razor-sharp teeth, making a suit fit to withstand this an engineering feat.
Power: Great White Sharks exert 4,000lbs of force through jaws with 50 razor-sharp teeth. The ambitious project has been supported with a $90,000 (£48,000) government grant
Despite tens of millions of trips to the beach taken in Australia every year, shark attacks are extremely rare, but each incident sets off public debate about beach safety.
There were 27 shark attacks in Australian waters last year, according to data compiled by Sydney’s Taronga Zoo, including one fatal incident in popular tourist destination Whitsunday Islands, near the Great Barrier Reef.
Many experts point to the increased number of people going into the water as a reason for any increase in attacks.
HOW SHARKS EARNED THEIR RUTHLESS REPUTATION
Sharks are the most efficient predators on earth and have long terrified humans.
Their basic design has never really changed over the course of 200million years and they are considered to be complex and intelligent.
Their teeth are fear factor number one, with the great white’s teeth growing up to two-and-a-half inches in length.
Their prey are impaled on the pointed teeth of the lower jaw where they saw away sections of the flesh. The serrated edges of the teeth help with this process.
Their teeth are brittle and are constantly breaking off but are also constantly regrowing and on average there are 15 rows of teeth present in the mouth at one time.
Sharks are the most efficient predators on earth. Their basic design has never really changed over the course of 200million years
Their speed is fear factor number two.
They are very fast in the water compared to humans with the mako shark able to reach an incredible 60mph in bursts.
The great white can reach speeds of 25mph.
By comparison, 5mph is the fastest a human being can reach.
A shark’s power and size terrifies us, too.
The great white shark can grow up to 20 feet and while it has no particular taste for humans even an exploratory bite is enough to cut a man in half.
Most sharks release a human after its first bite but sometimes, that’s all it take to kill a person.
However, sharks have far more reason to be afraid of humans. We kill up to a million of them a year, often just cutting off their fins to make into soup and throwing the rest of the shark back into the water, where it starves or drowns.
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