An invisible force field that punches sharks in the face

This summer , 61 - year - former distance swimmer Diana Nyad will be attempting a 103 - mile swim through the shark - populated waters discriminate Cuba and Florida — and she ’ll be doing it without a shark cage . rather , the endurance contest natator will be accompanied by an electronic shark - baulk equipment called Shark Shield , which works by screw with the electrosensory system sharks use to notice bioelectric fields present off by living tissue .

put up within the snout of predatory shark are special sensing organ known as the ampullae of Lorenzini . The organs are electroreceptors , and they admit shark to feel electromagnetic fields and temperature gradients in their surrounding waters . A shark ’s ampullae can show especially utilitarian when it is search for quarry . All this is well and just for the shark , but it ’s bad news for Nyad , whose contracting muscle will be throw off more than enough energy to attract the tending of a few athirst shark .

To stave off any curious , cartilaginous Pisces the Fishes in her immediate vicinity , Nyad will be accompanied by a figure of Shark Shields like the one pictured here . The shield works like a force field , give off a three dimensional electric waveform that projects as far as 8 meter away from the two electrode where the field of honor originates .

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Christine Ambrosino , a grad student in the University of Hawaii ’s Department of Zoology whose research focuses on the electrosensory systems of hammerhead sharks , explains how the equipment will protect Nyad on her swim :

[ The electrodes ] set up such a strong electric pulse in the water that as the shark swim toward it , it ’s like plug them in the face with a cattle prod … If you ’re out there and you see a self-aggrandizing shark coming , that ’s security department that you probably desire to have .

The field does no lasting damage to the shark , but induces uncontrollable spasms in its nose that increase in oftenness and intensity as it gets closer to the field ’s point of origin .

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