A shark-deterrent wetsuit (and it's not what you think) | Hamish Jolly

405,551 views ・ 2014-04-23

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Scientific breakthrough,
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the kind that can potentially save lives,
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can sometimes be lying right out in the open
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for us to discover,
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in the evolved, accumulated body
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of human anecdote, for example,
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or in the time-tested adaptations
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that we observe in the natural world around us.
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Science starts with observation,
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but the trick is to identify the patterns and signatures
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that we might otherwise dismiss
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as myth or coincidence,
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isolate them, and test them with scientific rigor.
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And when we do, the results will often surprise.
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Western Australia has had a particular problem
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with shark attacks over the last three years,
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unfortunately and tragically culminating
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in five fatal shark attacks in a 10-month period
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during that time.
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But Western Australia is not alone in this.
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The incident of shark engagements on humans
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is escalating worldwide.
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And so it's not surprising, perhaps,
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that in July of this year,
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Shark Attack Mitigation Systems in collaboration
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with the University of Western Australia Oceans Institute
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made an announcement which captured the attention
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of the worldwide media and of ocean users
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worldwide,
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and that was around the development of technology
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to mitigate or reduce the risk of shark attack
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based on the science of what sharks can see.
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And I have for you today
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the story of that journey,
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but also the notion that science can be
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as powerful as a translator
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as it can be for invention.
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When we began this process,
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we were looking, it was about three years ago,
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and we'd just had the first two fatal shark attacks
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in Western Australia,
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and by chance, in a previous role,
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I happened to be having dinner with Harry Butler.
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Now Harry Butler, who most Australians would know is a famous naturalist,
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had spent a lot of time in the marine environment.
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Harry Butler is a precursor, if you like,
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to the late Steve Irwin.
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When I asked him about
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what the solution to the problem might be,
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the answer was quite surprising.
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He said, "Take a black wetsuit,
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band it in yellow stripes like a bumblebee,
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and you'll be mimicking the warning systems
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of most marine species."
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I didn't think about that much at the time,
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and it wasn't until the next three fatal shark attacks happened,
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and it caused me to think,
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maybe there's some merit to this idea.
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And I turned to the web
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to see if there might be some clues.
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And it turns out the web is awash
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with this sort of evidence that supports
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this sort of thinking.
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So biologically, there are plenty of species
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that display banding or patterns, warning patterns,
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to either be cryptical in the water
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or warn against being attacked,
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not the least of which is the pilot fish
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which spends a big slab of its life
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around the business end of a shark.
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On the human side, Walter Starck, an oceanographer,
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has been painting his wetsuit since the 1970s,
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and anthropologically,
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Pacific island tribes painted themselves in bands
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in a sea snake ceremony
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to ward off the shark god.
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So what's going on here?
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Is this an idea lying wide out in the open
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for us to consider and define?
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We know that sharks use a range of sensors
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when they engage, particularly for attack,
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but the sight sensor is the one that they use
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to identify the target, and particularly
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in the last number of meters before the attack.
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It makes sense to pay attention to the biological anecdote
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because that's time-tested evolution
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over many millennia.
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But isn't human anecdote also an evolution of sorts,
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the idea that there's a kernel of truth
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thought to be important,
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passed down from generation to generation,
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so that it actually ends up shaping human behavior?
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I wanted to test this idea.
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I wanted to put some science
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to this anecdotal evidence,
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because if science could support this concept,
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then we might have at least part of the solution
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to shark attack right under our very nose.
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To do that, I needed some experts
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in shark vision and shark neurology,
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and a worldwide search, again,
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led to the University of W.A.
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on the doorstep here, with the Oceans Institute.
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And professor Nathan Hart and his team
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had just written a paper which tells us,
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confirms that predatory sharks see
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in black and white, or grayscale.
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So I called up Nathan,
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a little bit sheepishly, actually, about this idea
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that maybe we could use these patterns and shapes
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to produce a wetsuit to try and mitigate the risk of shark attack,
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and fortunately, he thought that was a good idea.
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So what ensued is a collaborative bit of research
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supported by the West Australian State Government.
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And we did three key things.
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The first is that we mapped the characteristics,
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the physical characteristics of the eyes
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of the three main predatory sharks,
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so the great white, tiger and bull shark.
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We did that genetically
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and we did that anatomically.
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The next thing we did was to understand,
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using complex computer modeling,
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what that eye can see
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at different depths, distances,
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light conditions, and water clarity in the ocean.
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And from there, we were able to pinpoint
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two key characteristics:
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what patterns and shapes would present the wearer
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as hidden or hard to make out in the water, cryptic,
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and what patterns and shapes might provide
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the greatest contrast but provide the greatest
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breakup of profile
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so that that person wasn't confused for shark prey
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or shark food.
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The next thing we needed to do was to convert this
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into wetsuits that people might actually wear,
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and to that end, I invited Ray Smith,
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a surfer, industrial designer, wetsuit designer,
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and in fact the guy that designed the original Quiksilver logo,
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to come over and sit with the science team
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and interpret that science
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into aesthetic wetsuits that people might actually wear.
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And here's an example of one of the first drawings.
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So this is what I call a "don't eat me" wetsuit.
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So this takes that banding idea,
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takes that banding idea, it's highly visible,
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provides a highly disruptive profile,
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and is intended to prevent the shark
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from considering that you would be ordinary food,
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and potentially even create confusion for the shark.
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And this one's configured to go with a surfboard.
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You can see that dark, opaque panel on the front,
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and it's particularly better for the surface,
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where being backlit and providing a silhouette
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is problematic.
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Second iteration is the cryptic wetsuit,
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or the one which attempts to hide the wearer
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in the water column.
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There are three panels on this suit,
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and in any given conditions,
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one or more of those panels
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will match the reflective spectra of the water
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so as to disappear fully or partially,
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leaving the last panel or panels
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to create a disruptive profile in the water column.
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And this one's particularly well-suited
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to the dive configuration,
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so when you're deeper under the water.
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So we knew that we had
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some really solid science here.
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We knew, if you wanted to stand out,
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you needed to look stripy,
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and we knew if you wanted to be cryptic,
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you needed to look like this.
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But the acid test is always going to be,
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how would sharks really behave
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in the context of these patterns and shapes.
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And testing to simulate a person in a wetsuit
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in the water with a predatory shark
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in a natural environment
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is actually a lot harder than you might think.
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(Laughter)
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So we have to bait the rig,
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because we need to get the statistical number
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of samples through to get the scientific evidence,
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and by baiting the rig,
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we're obviously changing shark behavior.
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We can't put humans in the water.
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We're ethically precluded from even using
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humanoid shapes and baiting them up in the water.
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But nevertheless, we started the testing process
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in January of this year,
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initially with tiger sharks
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and subsequently with great white sharks.
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The way we did that
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was to get a perforated drum which is full of bait,
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wrap it in a neoprene skin,
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and then run two stereo underwater cameras
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to watch how the shark actually engages with that rig.
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And because we use stereo,
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we can capture all the statistics on how big the shark is,
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what angle it comes in at, how quickly it leaves,
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and what its behavior is
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in an empirical rather than a subjective way.
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Because we needed to preserve the scientific method,
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we ran a control rig
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which was a black neoprene rig
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just like a normal black wetsuit
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against the, what we call,
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SAMS technology rig.
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And the results were not just exciting,
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but very encouraging,
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and today I would like to just give you a snapshot
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of two of those engagements.
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So here we've got a four-meter tiger shark
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engaging the black control rig,
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which it had encountered about
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a minute and a half before.
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Now that exact same shark had engaged,
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or encountered this SAMS rig,
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which is the Elude SAMS rig,
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about eight minutes before,
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and spent six minutes circling it, hunting for it,
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looking for what it could smell and sense but not see,
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and this was the final engagement.
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Great white sharks are more confident than the tigers,
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and here you see great white shark
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engaging a control rig,
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so a black neoprene wetsuit,
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and going straight to the bottom,
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coming up
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and engaging.
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In contrast to the SAMS technology rig,
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this is the banded one,
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where it's more tactile,
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it's more investigative,
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it's more apprehensive,
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and shows a reluctance to come straight in and go.
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(Applause)
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So, it's important for us that all the testing is done independently,
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and the University of W.A. is doing the testing.
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It'll be an ongoing process.
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It's subject to peer review and subject to publication.
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It's so important that this concept
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is led with the science.
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From the perspective of Shark Attack Mitigation Systems,
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we're a biotechnology licensing company,
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so we don't make wetsuits ourselves.
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We'll license others to do that.
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But I thought you might be interested
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in seeing what SAMS technology looks like
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embedded in a wetsuit, and to that end,
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for the first time, live, worldwide --
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(Laughter) —
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I can show you what biological adaptation,
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science and design looks like in real life.
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So I can welcome Sam, the surfer,
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from this side. Where are you, Sam?
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(Applause)
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And Eduardo.
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(Applause)
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Cheers, mate.
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Cheers.
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Thanks, gentlemen. (Applause)
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So what have we done here?
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Well, to my mind, rather than take a blank sheet
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and use science as a tool for invention,
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we've paid attention to the biological evidence,
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we've put importance to the
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human anecdotal evidence,
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and we've used science as a tool
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for translation,
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translation of something that was already there
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into something that we can use for the benefit of mankind.
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And it strikes me that this idea of science
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as a tool for translation rather than invention
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is one that we can apply much more widely than this
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in the pursuit of innovation.
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After all, did the Wright brothers
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discover manned flight,
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or did they observe the biological fact of flight
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and translate that mechanically, replicate it
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in a way that humans could use?
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As for the humble wetsuit,
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who knows what oceanwear will look like
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in two years' time, in five years' time
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or in 50 years' time, but with this new thinking,
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I'm guessing there's a fair chance
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it won't be pure black.
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Thank you.
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(Applause)
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