A lucky couple got to spend a night in a shark tank. They won this weird accommodation thanks to a recent Airbnb contest.
Story by Ian Phillips and editing by Alana Yzola
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This couple got to spend a night in a shark tank, thanks to Airbnb
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Everyone is terrified of sharks, but this is actually the deadliest creature on Earth
A summer season of shark attacks has left many beaches around the world empty, but the likelihood that the average person will die from a shark attack is relatively low. In fact, sharks don't even place in the to 10 deadliest animals to humans. But the animal most commonly responsible for human deaths around the world may surprise you.
Produced by Rob Ludacer
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Scientists just discovered why some sharks glow underwater
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Terrifying video of a great white shark attacking divers in a cage
Divers got up close and personal with a great white shark in Gansbaai, South Africa.
Produced by Grace Raver. Footage courtesy of the Associated Press.
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This jelly inside shark heads is the most powerful proton conductor in the world
A clear, internal jelly that helps sharks and other marine animals detect the electrical signals of their prey offers the highest proton conductivity in the natural world, according to a new study.
The jelly in question is found in the 'ampullae of Lorenzini' (AoL) – an array of electrosensory organs present in cartilaginous fish such as sharks, skates, and rays. While scientists have known about the ampullae of Lorenzini for centuries, the remarkable conductivity of the jelly-like substance inside has come as a surprise, and it could even lead to new technological applications for the biological material.
"The observation of high proton conductivity in the jelly is very exciting,"said materials scientist and electrical engineer Marco Rolandi from the University of Washington. "We hope that our findings may contribute to future studies of the electrosensing function of the ampullae of Lorenzini and of the organ overall, which is itself rather exceptional."
The ampullae of Lorenzini are visible on the heads and underside of elasmobranchs– a sub-class of cartilaginous fish – as small pores on the surface of the skin (you can see them in the shark image above).
These surface pores are connected to electrosensory cells by canals filled with clear, viscous jelly, which let the fish detect weak electrical fields emitted by other animals in the sea - even signals as subtle as 5 nanovolts per centimeter.
To measure the conductivity of the jelly, the researchers extracted it from skates and sharks. While the researchers don't yet fully understand how the jelly contributes to this function, it's clear that it plays some role, thanks to its immense capacity for proton conductivity, which the team says is the highest ever reported for a biological material.
At approximately 2 ± 1 millisiemens per centimeter, the jelly's conductivity is only 40 times lower than the polymer Nafion, a synthetic material known for its superior conductivity.
Proton conductivity is a form of electrical conductivity where positive hydrogen ions carry the charge, as opposed to electrons. While electrons carry the charge in highly conductive metals such as silver and copper, proton conductivity is an important process in powering photosynthesis, and could be used to build better batteries and fuel cells in the future.
"The first time I measured the proton conductivity of the jelly, I was really surprised,"said one of the team, Erik Josberger. "I didn't expect a natural material to approach the proton conductivity of an engineered material like Nafion."
So what is it about the substance that gives it its awesome conductivity?
"We suggest that keratan sulfate, identified previously in the AoL jelly and confirmed here, may contribute to the high proton conductivity of the AoL jelly with its sulfate groups – acid groups and proton donors," the authors write in Science Advances.
The scientists hope that further study of the jelly will help us understand more about its remarkable properties, and they suggest that the material – if we're able to replicate a synthetic version of it – could even find a home in new technologies, perhaps in the form of some kind of unconventional sensor device.
"Given that Nafion is a very carefully prepared material that's very precisely made, it was interesting to see the shark had replicated something very close to that material just by nature," Josberger told Sarah Kaplan at The Washington Post, explaining how there's still much we don't know about how this jelly and the ampullae of Lorenzini work.
"I always say, if you have all the answers, then we're out of a job,"added Rolandi. "So it's rather exciting that we're creating new questions rather than all the answers."
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NOW WATCH: Terrifying video of a great white shark attacking divers in a cage
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Swim with massive sharks at this private island in the Bahamas
Despite growing to a frightening 14 feet, nurse sharks generally don't harm humans. At Compass Cay, a private island in the Bahamas, you can swim with swarms of them. Even though it's safe, it looks terrifying.
Written and produced by Jeremy Dreyfuss
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Australian tourists got caught in the middle of a tiger shark feeding frenzy
Around 70 tiger sharks feasted on a dead whale at Shark Bay in Western Australia. Two passenger boats passing through on a cruise witnessed the whole thing.
Produced by Claudia Romeo
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2016 may see a record number of shark attacks
As the summer beach season opens in the United States, at least one expert is predicting an increase in shark attacks around the world this year that will surpass last year's record number.
"We should have more bites this year than last," George Burgess, director of the International Shark Attack File at the University of Florida, said in an interview shortly before the Memorial Day holiday weekend that signals the unofficial start of America's summer vacation = and beach - season.
In 2015, there were 98 shark attacks, including six fatalities, according to Burgess.
Why the increased bloodshed? Shark populations are slowly recovering from historic lows in the 1990s, the world's human population has grown and rising temperatures are leading more people to go swimming, Burgess said.
Still, the university notes that fatal shark attacks, while undeniably graphic, are so infrequent that beachgoers face a higher risk of being killed by sand collapsing as the result of overachieving sand castle builders.
With their fearsome teeth and dorsal fins the inspiration for hit movies, TV series and beach-town souvenirs, it is hard to believe that a century ago American scientists did not believe sharks would fatally attack humans in US temperate waters without provocation.
That changed in July 1916, when four people were killed in attacks near the New Jersey shore, a series of deaths blamed on a sea turtle until a great white shark with human remains in its stomach was captured nearby.
Since those attacks, public opinion of sharks has changed dramatically, with swimmers' fears fanned by fiction, from the 1975 Academy Award-winning film "Jaws," based on Peter Benchley's book about a giant man-eater, to the Discovery Channel's modern "Shark Week" summer television series.
Years before the attacks near the northern Jersey Shore town of Keyport, millionaire businessman Hermann Oelrichs offered a $500 prize in 1891 (more than $13,000 in today's dollars) to anyone who could prove that a shark ever bit a human in nontropical waters. The reward was never claimed.
Well-regarded scientists at the American Museum of Natural History in New York pointed to Oelrichs' wager as proof that no shark would bite a human, according to Michael Capuzzo's 2001 book "Close to Shore."
Even the New York Times in a 1915 editorial titled "Let Us Do Justice to the Sharks" cited Oelrichs' offer and said, "That sharks can properly be called dangerous in this part of the world is apparently untrue."
HUNTER BECOMES THE HUNTED
While those attacks gave oceangoers pause for decades, "Jaws" turned the hunter into the hunted, Burgess said.
"Every red-blooded American man felt obliged to go out and catch sharks, which were readily capturable," said the University of Florida's Burgess, noting that they can be caught offshore and from small boats. "It became the blue-collar marlin."
Sharks were being killed by sportfishing fleets as well as commercial fishermen seeking steaks for US grocery stores and Asian markets for shark fin soup, regarded as an aphrodisiac in some cultures.
By the late 1980s, shark populations were crashing, and scientists sounded the alarm. The first law protecting sharks was passed in the 1990s in Florida - the home to the largest shark population of any US state - and limited the daily catch to one shark per person, according to Burgess.
Federal safeguards followed, as well as more state efforts like the shark fin ban that has gone into effect in 10 states and is under consideration in Rhode Island.
Conservation efforts have introduced the public to another side of sharks: their vital link to the ocean ecosystem, their typically curious and shy nature, even the human-like birth of their offspring rather than laying eggs like other fish.
The public is clearly hooked. Aquariums from San Francisco to Brooklyn say sharks are among the most popular attractions, and some people are willing to pay hundreds of dollars to swim close to them.
Mario Caruso, 42, a Brooklyn father of two, said it was well worth the $250 he paid to spend an hour submerged in the Atlantic Ocean inside a metal cage with sharks prowling around him off Montauk, New York.
"The first time, you get that rush of adrenaline and then, 'Oh, boy - he's got teeth!'," he said.
SEE ALSO: The doctor who invented the Heimlich Manoeuvre just used it for the first time — aged 96
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NOW WATCH: Australian tourists got caught in the middle of a tiger shark feeding frenzy
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8 crazy facts you didn't know about the king of the ocean
Sweet relief. Summer is here, and people around the nation can start enjoying the oceanside beaches they’ve been dreaming about all year long.
Warm weather. Ice cream. Hot sand. Cool water. Time spent with friends and family.
It’s a relaxing, stress-free time ... until someone mentions that one word: Shark.
For anyone who's seen "Jaws," this creature doesn’t seem like one they want to become particularly close with.
But 41 years after one of the most fear-instilling movies of all time, scientists have a much better understanding of sharks.
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Sharks have special organs to sense changes in their environment.
Sharks have special organs called neuromasts throughout their head and along their bodies to help them sense water pressure and movement in their surroundings. They’re usually located just below the skin inside of mucus-filled pores.
They can sense electromagnetic fields.
Some neuromasts are specialized to sense other changes in the environment. These are called ampullae of Lorenzini. Each ampullae works independently to distinguish the difference in electric potential in the environment versus in the shark's body. Scientists think that this may allow sharks to detect prey, like muscle spasms originating from an injured fish, as well as predators, and mates. It is also thought that these ampullae may be responsible for detecting the Earth’s magnetic field, helping guide sharks during migration.
Researchers are also using what they know about this system to try and create new shark repellents.
Sharks can by hypnotized.
Technically, sharks can undergo what's called tonic immobility, or a natural state of paralysis. Researchers can induce this state in a shark by either flipping the animal onto its belly or rubbing its snout, depending on which species it is. Humans aren't the only ones who know how to use this trick. Scientists think large cetaceans, like whales, may use it as well to defend themselves or prey upon sharks (instead of grabbing hold of the dorsal fin, a larger marine animal would bite it). It may also be a tactic that sharks use on each other during mating to prevent injury to the female.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Stunning time-lapse of drawing an optical illusion
Hungarian artist Vamos Sandor created this video showing a time lapse drawing of a great white shark. This drawing uses a technique called anamorphosis, in which the image is distorted to appear three dimensional when folded.
Produced by Peter Chung. Video courtesy of AP.
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Airbnb's new floating apartment has unreal views of the world's largest coral reef
There's a floating apartment on top of the Great Barrier Reef, located off the coast of Queensland. Airbnb is holding a competition where four guests can win the chance to stay there.
Produced by Claudia Romeo. Original reporting by Chloe Pantazi.
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Steven Spielberg's 'Jaws' was released 41 years ago today — watch the original 1975 trailer
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5 United States senators take a stand for sharks today
With declining populations of sharks worldwide, there have been multiple bans on the sale of shark fins in the United States. However, some species are still allowed to be sold in certain states. It is also almost impossible to know if a shark was caught legally or not, Sea Shepherd says, because many markets often lie about the species they have caught and where they caught them.
Today, 5 United States senators are introducing the Shark Fin Trade Elimination Act of 2016.
Cory Booker (D, NJ), Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV), Richard Blumenthal (D-CT), John McCain (R-AZ), and Maria Cantwell (D-WA) hope to eliminate the selling of shark fins in every state in the nation. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) helped with the original sponsoring of the bill as well. There are currently 11 states (TX, DE, HI, IL, MA, MD, NY, OR, RI, CA, WA) as well as the territories of American Somoa, Guam, and the North Mariana Islands that have implemented a ban.
Sharks are one of the ocean's apex predators, meaning they control the rest of the food chain and countless interactions in the blue abyss. They regulate populations, as well as provide economic value for humans, like tourist boating trips.
“Every year, it is estimated that over 70 million sharks end up in the global shark fin trade, and fining is pushing some species of sharks to the brink of extinction," Senator Booker said. "With this bipartisan measure, America can become a global leader by shutting down the domestic market for shark fins. Sharks play a pivotal role in marine ecosystems, and we must do more to protect them.”
If the act is approved, it will remove the United States contribution of shark fins to the global market, lowering demand and hopefully creating a lull in finning. It will also allow for stronger enforcement of the "no finning" ban in the United States and put the country in a stronger position to advocate internationally for abolishing the fin trade in other countries.
Sharks may seem like a terror thanks to exploding negative social perception of the animal since the advent of cinema, but they are a vital part of the world's oceans that need to be saved. The successful implementation of this act will benefit other animals as well as human interest.
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NOW WATCH: Here’s why the most popular map of the world is totally misleading
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Everyone is terrified of alligators, but this is actually the deadliest creature on Earth
Recent tragedies have left a lot of people concerned abut the threat of alligator attacks, but the likelihood that the average person will die from an alligator attack is relatively low. In fact, alligators don't even place in the to 10 deadliest animals to humans. But the animal most commonly responsible for human deaths around the world may surprise you.
Produced by Rob Ludacer
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Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen is on a mission to save the world’s sharks, and he’s found some lurking in unexpected places
Something like 100 million sharks are pulled from the sea each year for their fins and meat, according to researchers' best estimates, putting more than a quarter of shark and ray species at risk of extinction.
This is not a good thing, contrary to what certain summer blockbusters might have you thinking.
Sharks are keystone species that are essential for healthy reefs and oceans. But there's still so much we don't know about how many of these creatures are out there and how exactly their populations affect the underwater ecosystem.
The Global FinPrint project aims to change that.
FinPrint is a research effort run by an international team and largely funded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen that's trying to take a global snapshot of shark and ray populations at reefs around the world.
"The first step is to figure out what’s out there, where it is, and to get a sense of how many sharks and rays should be in an area," says Mike Heithaus, a marine scientist and dean of the Florida International University College of Arts, Sciences & Education, who is one of the core researchers for Global FinPrint.
SEE ALSO: Apple and Microsoft are fighting a secret war for the future of technology
Seeing shark populations at reefs will help researchers figure out just how crucial they are to these hotbeds of marine life.
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"We suspect they are critical," says Heithaus.
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In Western Australia, researchers have noticed that without sharks, seagrass that captures carbon and is home to many animals dies, destroying the ecosystem. Similar things may happen with reefs.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider
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Shark Week dropped its controversial Megalodon mockumentary — and fans are not happy
On Sunday, the Discovery Channel's annual Shark Week kicked off — only this year, no controversial mockumentaries on the megalodon shark will be getting any air time.
Last year, Discovery Channel's new president Rich Ross had announced the removal of such dramatized programming, saying it wasn't "right" for the network. Instead, the channel was planning on leaning toward more real research.
In 2013, Discovery Channel debuted Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives, which was a fictional film about scientists researching the possible existence of the prehistoric and massive sea creature. The following year, Discovery Channel aired a sequel, Megalodon: The New Evidence. The fake documentaries were first introduced to the network as relief to the usually serious science material on the channel.
The mockumentary did begin and close with disclaimers about its fictionality, but it was still met with wide criticism for being misleading, therefore discrediting the network's reputation. "It was presented in such a way that you could very easily watch it and not know it was fictional," shark expert David Shiffman said, according to NPR.
While some were upset when they found out that the documentary was entirely fictionalized, many others who found the mockumentaries entertaining are bummed that the fake hunt for the giant shark won't be broadcasted this year.
After all, Megalodon: The Monster Shark Lives was Shark Week's highest-rated program.
is it really shark week if you don't go back and watch the documentary about megalodon? 🐟
— claire matheny (@matheny_claire) June 27, 2016
very upset shark week has no megalodon shows this year😭
— kalena (@kalenaseaman) June 27, 2016
I love how Shark Week went rogue and released false documentaries. I love even more that the "scientist" tracking Megalodon is called Drake.
— Caroline Akers (@champagne_mommy) June 26, 2016
I've been waiting all year for shark week just to watch the megalodon documentaries
— Lyss (@Lyssa_Bauer) June 27, 2016
it's shark week where my megalodon documentary
— kitri rainbolt (@kitri600) June 27, 2016
@SharkWeek Thank you for not going with a fake mockumentary this year. Research and education is what we want!
— Saul Goode (@TheGoodeAg) June 27, 2016
Just found out that Shark Week's Megalodon was actually a mockumentary with actors and I'm genuinely pissed off.
— Kirby Nicole (@kirby_nicole) June 27, 2016Join the conversation about this story »
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Great whites are back in Cape Cod — here's what you need to know
The ocean's top predators must have known that Shark Week was coming, because great whites have been spotted off the coast of Cape Cod.
These impressive sharks have been seen in the region every year since 2009, National Geographic reports.
The first great white shark of this season was tagged on June 17 by Dr. Gregory Skomal of the Massachusetts Division of Marine Fisheries. The shark was an 11-foot female found feeding on a grey seal off the coast of Chatham, Massachusetts.
This area has seen a lot of sharks over the past few summers because its seal population has grown.
The biggest great whites can grow up to 20 feet long, according to the Smithsonian Institution, but most females are about 15 to 16 feet long, while males average 11 to 13 feet.
On June 20, the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy tagged a second great white off Nauset Beach. According to WCVB, Boston's local news station, this shark was also 11 feet long.
If last year is any indication, the citizens of Cape Cod should expect to see more great whites in their waters this summer. Beaches in the area were closed several times last season because groups of sharks were repeatedly seen approaching the shore.
But beachgoers shouldn't worry too much. According to the Florida Museum of Natural History, sharks killed six people in 2015. Humans, on the other hand, kill 20 to 30 million sharks a year. To really put this into perspective, nearly 3,300 people die every day in car accidents.
To help stave off any lurking fears you may have, though, Discovery Channel and NOAA Fisheries Service offer some helpful tips to avoid being attacked by a shark:
- Swim in groups. Sharks are more likely to attack people swimming alone.
- Avoid swimming at dawn and dusk, when sharks usually feed.
- Don't enter the water with any kind of open cut.
- Take off shiny jewelry before swimming. Jewelry looks like fish scales in the water, and it is more likely to attract sharks.
- Try not to splash. Sharks may mistake all this splashing for an injured prey (in other words, an easy meal).
While it's easy to be afraid of sharks if you've seen Steven Spielberg's 1975 thriller "Jaws," swimmers really don't have too much to worry about. Just pay attention to signs at local beaches and follow NOAA's guidelines, and you'll have a great — and safe — summer.
MORE: Lionfish have invaded the Mediterranean — here’s why scientists are worried
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NOW WATCH: Why punching a shark in the nose is not your best defense
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Why punching a shark in the nose is not your best defense
Unlike other animal attacks, if you happen to get attacked by a shark you need to strategically strike back. And punching them in the nose is not necessarily your best defense.
Produced by Justin Gmoser
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Brave scientists just captured the first sonogram of shark pups wiggling in the womb
Marine scientists just carried out what may be the bravest obstetrical exam ever, taking a sonogram of a 12.5 foot tiger shark. We first spotted this news over at Popular Science.
James Sulikowski, of the University of New England, along with collaborator Neil Hammerschlag of the University of Miami conducted the exam on a shark named Emily, in a region of the Bahamas where the species is common. The sonogram revealed that the shark was carrying 20 pups, complete with mouths full of teeth.
In addition to capturing the best Facebook baby announcement photo of all time, this sonogram is groundbreaking for research on pregnant sharks. Until now, studying sharks in the womb involved cutting the expecting mother open, killing her in the process.
"Historically, if you wanted to see if a tiger shark is pregnant, you’d have to cut her up," Hammerschlag told Discovery, in a video about the sonogram. "We aren’t sacrificing humans to determine if they're pregnant. Why can't we do it for sharks?"
Discovery took some liberties and colored and outlined the shark fetuses, and it illustrates just how developed the little sharks are at that stage, about two thirds of the way through Emily's pregnancy.
Sharks run the gamut of methods for birthing their young, but most, including tiger sharks, are ovoviviparous, with eggs hatching within the mother before live birth. Some lay eggs externally, while others are linked to their gestating young via a placenta, much closer to pregnancy in mammals.
And this isn't the last they'll see of Emily. The researchers placed an acoustic and satellite tag on her dorsal fin so she can be monitored and tracked — hopefully to a common birthing area known as a "shark nursery" that conservationists can identify and protect.
Within a year, the tag will fall off and her fin will heal.
Check out the clip below from the program "Tiger Beach," part of Discovery Channel's ongoing Shark Week that runs until Sunday.
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NOW WATCH: Why punching a shark in the nose is not your best defense
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10 freaky-looking sharks that actually exist
When most people think of sharks, a particular image comes to mind: a dorsal fin sticking out of the water, or for some people, just the very fictional great white shark from "Jaws."
And while the average person really has no reason to worry about sharks in the first place, depictions of sharks in popular media tend to focus on just a few species: white sharks, bull sharks, and tiger sharks, especially.
But there are all kinds of different sharks out there — more than 500 species, in a great variety of shapes and sizes. They've been around since before the dinosaurs, and the vast majority of species have never even accidentally nibbled on a human swimmer.
So check out some of the weirdest, most fascinating creatures in the ocean.
The rarely seen megamouth shark can live 100 years and resides thousands of feet below the surface — but it rises up at night to snack on tiny plankton.
Source: Reuters, Discovery
Though they are almost never seen and don't get to be much larger than 6 feet, the frilled shark certainly looks like it could be responsible for tales of ancient sea monsters — check out those rows of teeth!
This teeny tiny pocket shark, discovered last year, is just the second one ever found.
Source: Business Insider
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