So, it turns out “Austin Powers” contained an accurate prediction of what the not-too-distant future would hold. That future is now, and Dr. Evil‘s plan to have “sharks with laser beams attached to their heads” is almost a reality.

TV host and shark diver Luke Tipple is responsible for this latest act of life imitating 90s comedies. And sure, while in this case the laser beams are attached to a lemon shark‘s dorsal fin, it’s still pretty close.

“A month or so ago I was asked by a company in Hong Kong called ‘Wicked Lasers‘ if I would strap a laser to a shark and ‘take a few pictures’ for them,” Tipple explains on his site. “My first thought was, um… no. There’s really no reason to do it and it was obviously just a publicity stunt.”

But then Tipple got to thinking and decided there was a scientific reason for it.

“I was quite interested in seeing if we could use a laser to measure actual body contortions and posturing while a shark was in it’s [sic] final approach to a stimulus source,” Tipple wrote. “Is there for example a measurable difference in how it behaves on approach to a splashing human verses a floundering sea mammal, a wounded fish verses a chum box? It’s the minutia of shark behavior that often fascinates me and I figured, why not give this a shot?”

That sounds all well and good for the shark, but what about the other creatures in the sea? Could they be laser beamed to death?

Tipple told Wired not to worry. “The laser we were using wasn’t strong enough to cause ocular or thermal damage to other sea life,” he said.

But Wired also spoke with Neil Hammerschlag, an assistant professor with the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Science, who expressed some reservations about the actual scientific value of the experiment.

Still, as Tipple notes on his site, there’s already one been tangible benefit to the public perception of sharks.

“When was the last time you heard major media outlets say that sharks were cool? For readers of this recent string of press I think it was, well… yesterday.”

The experiment also gave Tipple an opportunity to speak out on sharks’ behalf.

“Sharks as a whole are not all that dangerous,” Tipple told Australia’s News.com.

UPDATE: Tripple spoke to The Huffington Post about his non-profit, Shark Free Marinas, and about changing the negative perception of sharks.

“It’s gonna be a gradual change in the public and the press’ understanding of what a shark is and how it lives its life,” Tripple said. “There’s a a widely held perception that sharks are monsters. I understand that mentality because if it bleeds it leads. But we don’t give them credit for being what they are which is a predator, not a monster.”

Related articles

• Finally, a Shark With a Laser (wired.com)
• Sharks with frickin’ laser beams now a reality (windsorstar.com)
• Real Lasers On Real Sharks (gizmodo.com.au)

• Athey, Susan; professor, department of economics, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
• Bardeen, James M.; professor, department of physics, University of Washington, Seattle
• Bartels, Larry M.; Shayne Chair of Public Policy and Social Science and professor of political science, department of political science, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.
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• Bell, John B.; senior staff scientist and group leader, Center for Computational Sciences and Engineering, E.O. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, Calif.
• Bhagwati, Jagdish N.; Arthur Lehman Professor of Economics and professor of political science, School of International and Public Affairs, Columbia University, New York City
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• Blake, Randolph; Centennial Professor, department of psychology, Vanderbilt University, Nashville, Tenn.
• Bonini, Nancy; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Lucille B. Williams Professor of Biology, department of biology, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
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• Dove, Patricia; C.P. Miles Professor of Science, department of geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
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• Dweck, Carol S.; Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology, department of psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
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• Englund, Paul T.; professor of biological chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore
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• Fleming, Wendell H.; University Professor Emeritus, division of applied mathematics, Brown University, Providence, R.I.
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• Garcia, K. Christopher; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor, departments of molecular and cellular physiology and of structural biology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
• Gelman, Susan; Frederick G.L. Huetwell Professor of Psychology, department of psychology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor
• Goodenough, John B.; Centennial Professor of Engineering, Texas Materials Institute, The University of Texas, Austin
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• Hahn, Beatrice H.; professor, departments of medicine and microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
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• Hartwig, John F.; professor of chemistry and Henry Rapoport Chair in Organic Chemistry, department of chemistry, University of California, Berkeley
• Henkin, Tina; professor, department of microbiology, The Ohio State University, Columbus
• Kauffmann, Guinevere; C3 Research Group Leader, Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics, Garching, Germany
• Klee, Harry J.; professor, Eminent Scholar, and Dickman Chair for Tomato Improvement, department of horticultural sciences and plant molecular and cellular biology program, University of Florida, Gainesville
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• Levin, Bruce R.; Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor, department of biology, Emory University, Atlanta
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• Ong, Nai Phuan; director, Princeton Center for Complex Materials, and Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics, department of physics, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.
• Parker, Roy; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Regents’ Professor, department of molecular and cellular biology, University of Arizona, Tucson
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• Newly elected foreign associates, their affiliations at the time of election, and their country of citizenship are:
• Allen, F. James; professor of archaeology emeritus, La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia (Australia)
• Andersson, Leif; professor in functional genomics, department of medical biochemistry and microbiology, Uppsala University, Uppsala, Sweden (Sweden)
• Barbacid, Mariano; director, Spanish National Cancer Research Center (CNIO), Madrid (Spain)
• Chow, Louise; professor of biochemistry and molecular genetics and senior scientist, Comprehensive Cancer Center, University of Alabama at Birmingham (Taiwan)
• Clarke, John; professor, department of physics, University of California, Berkeley (United Kingdom)
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• Diederich, François N.; professor of organic chemistry, Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, department of chemistry and applied biosciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland (Luxembourg)
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• Frith, Uta; professor of cognitive development, University College London, UK, and Research Foundation Professor, University of Aarhus, Denmark (Germany)
• Geim, Andre; Langworthy Professor, School of Physics and Astronomy, University of Manchester, Manchester, United Kingdom (Netherlands)
• Guillén, Sonia; director, Centro Mallqui, Bioarchaeology Research Center, Ilo, Lima, Peru (Peru)
• Kanamori, Hiroo; John E. and Hazel S. Smits Professor of Geophysics Emeritus, division of geological and planetary sciences, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena (Japan)
• Leyser, Ottoline; associate director, The Sainsbury Laboratory, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom (United Kingdom)
• Rinaldo, Andrea; professor of environmental engineering and director, Ecohydrology Laboratory, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Lausanne, Switzerland, and professor of civil engineering, University of Padova, Padova, Italy (Italy)
• Rizzolatti, Giacomo; professor of human physiology, department of neuroscience, University of Parma, Parma, Italy (Italy)
• Sakaguchi, Shimon; professor, Immunology Frontier Research Center, Osaka University, Osaka, Japan (Japan)
• Sansonetti, Philippe; professor, Institut Pasteur, Paris, France (France)
• Udalski, Andrzej; director, Warsaw University Observatory, and professor, Warsaw University, Warsaw, Poland (Poland)
• Yam, Vivian Wing Wah; Philip Wong Wilson Wong Professor in Chemistry and Energy, department of chemistry, University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong (China)
• Yanagida, Mitsuhiro; professor, Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology, Okinawa, and professor (special task), Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan (Japan)

Congratulations to all inductees.

By Chris Baumann

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from www.chartporn.org

By Chris Baumann

The new product is 89 North’s Heliophor, a patent-pending, innovative, high-intensity and exceptionally stable new light source used for quantitative fluorescence imaging in a wide variety of applications, including cancer research. A pumped-phosphor light engine, the Heliophor’s stability and straightforward calibration system ensure that output intensity is consistent across measurements, allowing repeatable, truly quantitative fluorescent analysis.

The Prism Award was presented to 89 North at a gala banquet in San Francisco at SPIE’s Photonics West Conference. SPIE gives the award “to products that challenge conventional ideas, solve problems, and improve life through the generation and harnessing of light.”

SPIE was founded in 1955 to advance light-based technologies. Serving more than 180,000 constituents from 168 countries, the Society advances emerging technologies through interdisciplinary information exchange, continuing education, publications, patent precedent, and career and professional growth.

“The Heliophor provides a new alternative to arc lamps, metal halides, and LED light sources,” SPIE said.

“The quality and competition among this year’s entries was even keener than in past years,” said SPIE CEO Eugene Arthurs. “More companies submitted applications than ever before. The strength of applications from core companies in our industry along with the impressive innovations bubbling up from smaller companies really demonstrates the vitality of the photonics industry.”

89 North, located in Burlington, Vermont, is a subsidiary of Bellow Falls’ award-winning Chroma Technology Corp. Chroma is a global employee-owned company manufacturing precision optical filters and coatings for biomedical instruments such as flow cytometers, plate readers and fluorescence microscopes.

“We created 89 North to encourage the kind of innovations that emerge when smart and creative people interact,” said Chroma President Paul Millman. “The Prism award certifies the success of that interaction.”

The Vermont Governor’s Awards were established in 1993 to recognize the actions taken by Vermonters to conserve and protect natural resources, prevent pollution, and promote environmental sustainability. To date, more than 150 award-winning efforts of Vermont individuals, organizations, institutions, public agencies, and businesses have been recognized. These projects contribute significantly to protecting the environment, conserving energy and reducing the production of greenhouse gases. Together they have created a green and sustainable business culture, and advanced environmental education on all fronts.

89 North is an employee-owned company located in Burlington, Vermont. “We are honored to have been selected to receive this award,” says 89 North’s General Manager, Chris Baumann. “Our parent company, Chroma Technology Corp, is well respected for both their socially and environmentally sound policies and we are following in their footsteps.”

Date: Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Time: 11:30 to 5 p.m. (with mixer to follow 5 to 7 p.m.)

Location: Grand Maple Ballroom, 4th Floor Dudley H. Davis Center, University of Vermont

The University of Vermont is pleased to host the Sixth Invention to Venture Conference on Wednesday, April 13, 2011. I2V is a leading event that pulls together academic researchers, students, entrepreneurs and business leaders from across Vermont and from several Colleges and Universities.

The half day event has a great speakers and a few workshops focused on inspiring entrepreneurship, job creation, and economic growth. We are honored to announce that John Taylor, Vice President of Research of National Venture Capital Association, has agreed to speak this year. There are also two roundtable discussions planned on Vermont Entrepreneurship Resources and Lessons Learned.

As with all I2V events, our goal is to engage a wide range of participants from the university community as well as members of the surrounding business community. Please encourage your post-doctoral, graduate, and undergraduate students to attend. Presentations will focus on venture capital, marketing, intellectual property, business plans, and related topics. Guest speakers are experts drawn from the region.

The event will provide a fast-paced, half-day of practical information and networking that can help take your ideas to commercialization. I2V is a co-production of the Technology Commercialization Office at the University of Vermont, the Vermont Center for Emerging Technologies, and with the National Collegiate Inventors and Innovators Alliance (NCIIA).
Register Now

Cost:

$5 – Students from any VT institution
$20 – All other registrations

Participant guide, lunch and a cash bar reception with Hors d’Oeuvres are included in the fee