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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)

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• 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.
• Beam, Kurt G.; professor, department of physiology and biophysics, University of Colorado, Aurora
• 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
• Bialek, William; John Archibald Wheeler/Battelle Professor in Physics and member, Lewis-Sigler Institute for Integrative Genomics, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.
• 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
• Brantley, Susan L.; Distinguished Professor of Geosciences, Earth and Environmental Systems Institute, Pennsylvania State University, University Park
• Canup, Robin M.; associate vice president, Planetary Sciences Directorate, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, Colo.
• Carlson, John; Higgins Professor, department of molecular, cellular, and developmental biology, Yale University, New Haven, Conn.
• Carlson, Richard W.; staff member, department of terrestrial magnetism, Carnegie Institution of Washington, Washington, D.C.
• Chagnon, Napoleon A.; professor emeritus, department of anthropology, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Chang, Yuan; professor of pathology, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
• Chiu, Wah; Alvin Romansky Professor of Biochemistry, National Center for Macromolecular Imaging, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston
• Christodoulou, Demetrios; professor of mathematics and physics, ETH Zurich, Switzerland
• Clark, Andrew G.; professor, department of molecular biology and genetics, Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.
• Debenedetti, Pablo G.; Class of 1950 Professor in Engineering and Applied Science and professor of chemical and biological engineering, department of chemical and biological engineering, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.
• Deisseroth, Karl; associate professor of bioengineering and psychiatry, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
• DePinho, Ronald A.; president, University of Texas M.D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston
• DeSimone, Joseph M.; Chancellor’s Eminent Professor of Chemistry, department of chemistry, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, and William R. Kenan Jr. Distinguished Professor of Chemical Engineering, North Carolina State University, Raleigh
• Dong, Xinnian; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and Arts and Sciences Endowed Professor of Biology, department of biology, Duke University, Durham, N.C.
• Dove, Patricia; C.P. Miles Professor of Science, department of geosciences, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University, Blacksburg
• Dreyfuss, Gideon; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor, department of biochemistry and biophysics, University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine, Philadelphia
• Dweck, Carol S.; Lewis and Virginia Eaton Professor of Psychology, department of psychology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
• Eichler, Evan E.; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor of genome sciences, department of genome sciences, University of Washington, Seattle
• Eigler, Donald M.; Fellow, The Wetnose Institute for Advanced Pelagic Studies, Santa Cruz, Calif.
• Englund, Paul T.; professor of biological chemistry, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore
• Fearon, James D.; Theodore and Frances Geballe Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, department of political science, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
• Fisher, Matthew P.; professor, Kavli Institute of Theoretical Physics and department of physics, University of California, Santa Barbara
• Fleming, Wendell H.; University Professor Emeritus, division of applied mathematics, Brown University, Providence, R.I.
• Galán, Jorge E.; Lucille P. Markey Professor of Microbiology, department of microbiology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, Conn.
• 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
• Green, Rachel; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor, department of molecular biology and genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore
• Groves, John T.; professor, department of chemistry, Princeton University, Princeton, N.J.
• Hahn, Beatrice H.; professor, departments of medicine and microbiology, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia
• Hannon, Gregory J.; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, Cold Spring Harbor, N.Y.
• 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
• Lee, Se-Jin; professor, department of molecular biology and genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore
• Levin, Bruce R.; Samuel Candler Dobbs Professor, department of biology, Emory University, Atlanta
• Lewin, Harris A.; Vice Chancellor for Research and Robert and Rosabel Osborne Endowed Chair in Evolution and Ecology, University of California, Davis
• Liskov, Barbara H.; Institute Professor, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
• Lovász, László; professor, Mathematical Institute, Eötvös Lorand University, Budapest, Hungary, and visiting professor, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton, N.J.
• Luo, Liqun; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor, department of biology, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
• Malinow, Roberto; professor, department of neuroscience, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
• McCay, Bonnie J.; Board of Governors Distinguished Service Professor, department of human ecology, Rutgers University of New Jersey, New Brunswick
• Merchant, Sabeeha; professor, department of chemistry and biochemistry, University of California, Los Angeles
• Moore, Patrick S.; director, cancer virology program, University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute, and professor, department of microbiology and molecular genetics, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
• Nelson, Ann E.; professor, department of physics, University of Washington, Seattle
• Okounkov, Andrei; Samuel Eilenberg Professor of Mathematics, department of mathematics, Columbia University, New York City
• Olvera de la Cruz, Monica; director, Materials Research Center, Lawyer Taylor Professor, department of materials science and engineering, and professor of chemistry, department of chemistry, Northwestern University, Evanston, Ill.
• 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
• Pavletich, Nikola P.; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and member, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York City
• Power, Mary; professor, department of integrative biology, University of California, Berkeley
• Ptáček, Louis J.; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and John C. Coleman Distinguished Professorship in Neurodegenerative Diseases, University of California, San Francisco
• Raikhel, Natasha V.; Distinguished Professor of Plant Cell Biology and director, Center for Plant Cell Biology, department of botany and plant sciences, University of California, Riverside
• Raudenbush, Stephen W.; Lewis-Sebring Distinguished Service Professor, department of sociology, The University of Chicago
• Rieke, Marcia J.; Regents’ Professor of Astronomy, department of astronomy, Steward Observatory, University of Arizona, Tucson
• Rikihisa, Yasuko; professor, department of veterinary biosciences, The Ohio State University, Columbus
• Rudensky, Alexander; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor, immunology program, Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York City
• Sadoulet, Bernard; professor, department of physics, University of California, Berkeley
• Sanchez, Pedro A.; director, tropical agriculture and rural environment, The Earth Institute, Columbia University, Palisades, N.Y.
• Selker, Eric U.; professor of biology, department of biology, University of Oregon, Eugene
• Simberloff, Daniel; Nancy Gore Hunger Professor of Environmental Studies, department of ecology and evolutionary biology, The University of Tennessee, Knoxville
• Skinner, James L.; Joseph O. and Elizabeth S. Hirschfelder Professor of Chemistry, department of chemistry, University of Wisconsin, Madison
• Storz, Gisela T.; senior investigator and deputy director, cell biology and metabolism program, Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health and Human Development, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, Md.
• Strick, Peter L.; co-director, Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition, and professor, departments of neurobiology and psychiatry, University of Pittsburgh, Pittsburgh
• Suresh, Subra; director, National Science Foundation, Arlington, Va.
• Tibshirani, Robert J.; professor of health research and statistics, Stanford University, Stanford, Calif.
• Townsend, Robert M.; Elizabeth and James Killian Professor of Economics, department of economics, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
• Wahr, John M.; fellow, Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, and professor of distinction, department of physics, University of Colorado, Boulder
• Williams, Ruth J.; Charles Lee Powell Distinguished Professor, department of mathematics, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
• Wimmer, Eckard A.F.; Distinguished Professor, department of molecular genetics and microbiology, Stony Brook University, Stony Brook, N.Y.
• Young, Richard A.; professor of biology, Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge
• Young, William R.; professor of physical oceanography, Scripps Institution of Oceanography, University of California, San Diego, La Jolla
• Zeder, Melinda A.; senior research scientist and curator of old world archaeology, department of anthropology, National Museum of Natural History, Washington, D.C.
• Zhuang, Xiaowei; investigator, Howard Hughes Medical Institute, and professor of chemistry and chemical biology and of physics, department of chemistry and chemical biology, Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.
• 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)
• Coupland, George; director, Max Planck Institute for Plant Breeding Research, Cologne, Germany (United Kingdom)
• Diederich, François N.; professor of organic chemistry, Laboratory of Organic Chemistry, department of chemistry and applied biosciences, ETH Zurich, Zurich, Switzerland (Luxembourg)
• Duboule, Denis; professor of biology, department of zoology and animal biology, University of Geneva, Geneva, Switzerland (Switzerland/France)
• 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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