- Macy's says employee hid up to $154 mn in costs over 3 years
- Germany fears outside hand in deadly Lithuania jet crash
- EU grocery shoppers 'fooled' by 'maze' of food labels: audit
- Awaiting Commerzbank, Italy's UniCredit bids for Italian rival
- Alonso jokes about playing return amid Leverkusen injury woes
- Stocks push higher on Trump's 'steady hand' for Treasury
- G7 ministers discuss ceasefire efforts in Mideast
- Bayern need to win all remaining Champions League games, says Kane
- Indian cricketer, 13, youngest to be sold in IPL history
- Romania braces for parliament vote after far right's poll upset
- France unveils new measures to combat violence against women
- Beating Man City eases pressure for Arsenal game: new Sporting coach
- Argentine court hears bid to end rape case against French rugby players
- Egypt says 17 missing after Red Sea tourist boat capsizes
- Stocks push higher on hopes for Trump's Treasury pick
- Dortmund boss calls for member vote on club's arms sponsorship deal
- Chanel family matriarch dies aged 99: company
- US boss Hayes says Chelsea stress made her 'unwell'
- Deadly cargo jet crash in Lithuania amid sabotage probes
- China's Ding beats 'nervous' Gukesh in world chess opener
- Man City can still do 'very good things' despite slump, says Guardiola
- 'After Mazan': France unveils new measures to combat violence against women
- Scholz named party's top candidate for German elections
- Flick says Barca must eliminate mistakes after stumble
- British business group hits out at Labour's tax hikes
- German Social Democrats name Scholz as top candidate for snap polls
- Fresh strikes, clashes in Lebanon after ceasefire calls
- Russia and Ukraine trade aerial attacks amid escalation fears
- Georgia parliament convenes amid legitimacy crisis
- Plastic pollution talks must not fail: UN environment chief
- Maximum term sought in French mass rape trial for husband who drugged wife
- Beeches thrive in France's Verdun in flight from climate change
- Deep divisions on display at plastic pollution treaty talks
- UAE names Uzbek suspects in Israeli rabbi's murder
- Indian author Ghosh wins top Dutch prize
- Real Madrid star Vinicius out of Liverpool clash with hamstring injury
- For Ceyda: A Turkish mum's fight for justice for murdered daughter
- Bestselling 'Woman of Substance' author Barbara Taylor Bradford dies aged 91
- Equity markets mostly on front foot, as bitcoin rally stutters
- Ukraine drones hit Russian oil energy facility: Kyiv source
- UN chief slams landmine threat after US decision to supply Ukraine
- Maximum term demanded in French rape trial for husband who drugged wife
- Salah feels 'more out than in' with no new Liverpool deal on table
- Pro-Russia candidate leads Romanian polls, PM out of the race
- Taiwan fighter jets to escort winning baseball team home
- Le Pen threatens to topple French government over budget
- DHL cargo plane crashes in Lithuania, killing one
- Le Pen meets PM as French government wobbles
- From serious car crash to IPL record for 'remarkable' Pant
- Equity markets mostly on front foot, bitcoin rally stutters
CMSC | 0.71% | 24.8483 | $ | |
RBGPF | -1.6% | 59.24 | $ | |
CMSD | 0.67% | 24.624 | $ | |
NGG | 0.05% | 63.14 | $ | |
GSK | 0.45% | 34.115 | $ | |
BTI | 0.09% | 37.415 | $ | |
SCS | 3.1% | 13.695 | $ | |
AZN | 0.6% | 66.025 | $ | |
RIO | 0.77% | 62.835 | $ | |
RELX | -0.62% | 46.46 | $ | |
JRI | 0.9% | 13.33 | $ | |
VOD | 1.58% | 8.87 | $ | |
BP | -1.55% | 29.265 | $ | |
BCE | 0.22% | 26.83 | $ | |
BCC | 6.67% | 154.06 | $ | |
RYCEF | -0.74% | 6.75 | $ |
Surfboards with bright lights could deter shark attacks - researchers
Covering your surfboard in bright lights sounds like an open invitation to great white sharks, but research released Tuesday by Australian scientists found it might actually stave off attacks.
Biologist Laura Ryan said the predator often attacked its prey from underneath, occasionally mistaking a surfer's silhouette for the outline of a seal.
Ryan and her fellow researchers showed that seal-shaped boards decked with bright horizontal lights were less likely to be attacked by great white sharks.
This appeared to be because the lights distorted the silhouette on the ocean's surface, making it appear less appetising.
"There is this longstanding fear of white sharks and part of that fear is that we don't understand them that well," said Ryan, from Australia's Macquarie University.
The study, published in the journal Current Biology, was conducted in the waters of South Africa's Mossel Bay, a popular great white feeding ground.
Seal-shaped decoys were strung with different configurations of LED lights and towed behind a boat to see which attracted the most attention.
Brighter lights were better at deterring sharks, the research found, while vertical lights were less effective than horizontal.
Ryan said the results were better than expected and is now in the process of building prototypes for use on the underside of kayaks and surfboards.
Australia has some of the world's most comprehensive shark management measures, including monitoring drones, shark nets and a tagging system that alerts authorities when a shark is near a crowded beach.
Ryan said her research could allow less invasive mitigation methods to be used.
More research was needed to see if bull and tiger sharks -- which have different predatory behaviour -- responded to the lights in a similar way, the authors said.
There have been more than 1,200 shark incidents in Australia since 1791, of which 255 resulted in death, official data shows.
Great white sharks were responsible for 94 of those deaths.
L.Janezki--BTB