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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)