Sharks are most likely to attack surfers and other unsuspecting swimmers in shallow water, on Sundays, during new moons and especially in August, according to a study released Thursday just in time for summer.

Young surfers in black and white bathing suits are most vulnerable toshark attacks or bites, the University of Florida study found.

It based its conclusions on observations and statistics gathered over a 50-year period in Florida’s Volusia County, known as the “shark attack capital of the world.”

“Human, shark and environmental factors combine to create a perfect storm of favorable conditions in Volusia County for attacks, particularly near Ponce Inlet between Daytona Beach and New Smyrna Beach,” said George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida.

read more at yahoo.news

FLORIANOPOLIS, Santa Catarina/Brazil (Sunday, May 23, 2010) – On the decisive heat of the event, Aritz Aranburu took two regular waves to claim the title of Maresia Surf International 2010 in Florianopolis, Santa Catarina, Brazil. The Brazilian Rodrigo Dornelles was second place, finalized the 12.67 x 6.67 points in the good waves at Mole Beach in Sunday.

“I’m so happy. It was a very good event for me, we had some pretty hard days and today everything went right to me,” said Aritz Aranburu, who jumped from 60th to the 35th place on the newASP World Rankings. “Unfortunately, we could not get good waves in the final, I did not surf my best, but that was good enough to win. Rodrigo (Dornelles) is a great surfer and was a pleasure to make the final against him. It’s great to win here in Brazil.”

MARESIA SURF INTERNATIONAL RESULTS
FINAL:
1 – Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 12.67
2 – Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 6.67

SEMIFINALS:
SF 1: Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 13.17 def. Gabriel Medina (BRA) 10.94
SF 2: Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 12.40 def. Caio Ibelli (BRA) 11.17

QUARTERFINALS:
QF 1: Rodrigo Dornelles (BRA) 8.77 def. Robson Santos (BRA) 10.94
QF 2: Gabriel Medina (BRA) 10.90 def. Sebastien Zietz (HAW) 10.33
QF 3: Caio Ibelli (BRA) 9.26 def. Pedro Henrique (BRA) 10.33
QF 4: Aritz Aranburu (EUK) 11.93 def. Leandro Bastos (BRA) 10.33

read original story/photo via asp

We’re gonna need a bigger wind turbine. Or maybe not. German researchers are using shark skin to make windmills spin more efficiently, and generate more electricity. Not real shark skin, thankfully. This is shark-line skin that can be painted onto wind turbines, airplanes and ships to reduce flow resistance, or drag. Does this make your “Jaws” drop?
This type of biomimicry has already been tried with cars, to improve mileage, as Michael reported last year. The latest version comes from Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Germany, dubbed as the leading organization for applied research in Europe.
Shark skin was the inspiration because fast-swimming sharks have evolutionary scales that allow them to move quickly through the water and nab their prey. Swimmers and surfers, take note.
The shark paint was developed by Yvonne Wilke, Volkmar Stenzel and Manfred Peschka of the Fraunhofer Institute.
They say the paint system can lower costs, and as a result, carbon dioxide emissions. The recipe for the aerodynamic skin involves nanoparticles, to allow the paint to withstand ultraviolet radiation, temperature change and mechanical loads, according to information from the institute.
The paint lasts for about five years, at which time it has to be removed and reapplied. The paint is applied with a stencil (according to Stenzel), to give it a shark-skin structure.
For wind turbines, and commercial wind-energy parks, the paint could reduce air resistance, improve efficiency and result in greater energy generation, the researchers say. They estimate the paint could save almost 4.5 million tons of fuel a year if applied to every airplane in the world. Now that would be quite a contract.
For a large container ship, the paint could reportedly reduce wall friction by more than 5 percent a year, saving 2,000 tons of fuel annually.
The next task for the Germans: To develop shark skin paint that resists algae or mussels that accumulate on ship hulls.

read more at treehugger.com