Covering your surfboard in bright lights sounds like an open invitation to great white sharks, but research released Tuesday by Australian scientists found it might actually stave off attacks.

Biologist Laura Ryan said the predator often attacked its prey from underneath, occasionally mistaking a surfer’s silhouette for the outline of a seal.

Ryan and her fellow researchers showed that seal-shaped boards decked with bright horizontal lights were less likely to be attacked by great white sharks.

This appeared to be because the lights distorted the silhouette on the ocean’s surface, making it appear less appetizing.

“There is this longstanding fear of white sharks and part of that fear is that we don’t understand them that well,” said Ryan, from Australia’s Macquarie University.

The study, published in the journal Current Biology, was conducted in the waters of South Africa’s Mossel Bay, a popular great white feeding ground.

Seal-shaped decoys were strung with different configurations of LED lights and towed behind a boat to see which attracted the most attention.

Brighter lights were better at deterring sharks, the research found, while vertical lights were less effective than horizontal.

Macquarie University Professor Nathan Hart, one of the study’s authors, said the lights caused a “complex interaction” with the shark’s behavior.

“It’s like an invisibility cloak but with the exception that we are splitting the object, the visual silhouette, into smaller bits,” Hart said.

The study’s authors released a video showing some of the research in action.

Ryan said the results were better than expected and is now in the process of building prototypes for use on the underside of kayaks and surfboards.

Australia has some of the world’s most comprehensive shark management measures, including monitoring drones, shark nets and a tagging system that alerts authorities when a shark is near a crowded beach.

Ryan said her research could allow less invasive mitigation methods to be used.

More research was needed to see if bull and tiger sharks — which have different predatory behavior — responded to the lights in a similar way, the authors said.

There have been more than 1,200 shark incidents in Australia since 1791, of which 255 resulted in death, official data shows.

Great white sharks were responsible for 94 of those deaths.

The overall number of deadly shark attacks worldwide in 2023 remained relatively low, but it was still twice the previous year’s total, according to the latest iteration of the International Shark Attack File — a database of global shark attacks run by the University of Florida. 

The report noted that a “disproportionate” amount of people died from shark bites in Australia last year compared with other countries around the world.

Australia suffered a major blow after their humiliating defeat in the ODI series against Pakistan as all-rounder Cooper Connolly has been ruled out of the upcoming T20I series.

Connolly fractured his left hand after being struck by Mohammad Hasnain while batting in the series-deciding third ODI in Perth yesterday.

The 21-year-old all-rounder was forced to retire hurt and did not return to the field due to the injury. He underwent scans which revealed the fracture, which ruled him out of the three-match T20I series against Pakistan.

Cricket Australia (CA) in an official statement revealed that Cooper Connolly has sustained a fracture to his fourth metacarpal.

Meanwhile, the hosts have announced wicket-keeper Josh Philippe as Connolly’s replacement in the squad for the T20I series.

For the unversed, Pakistan, under newly-appointed captain Mohammad Rizwan, defeated Australia in the third ODI by eight wickets on Sunday in Perth to win their first series Down Under since 2002.

The visitors lost the first match of the three-match series by two wickets, however, they staged an impressive comeback to win the series 2-1.

The teams will now face each other in the first T20I on November 14 in Brisbane, with the next matches scheduled for November 16 and 18 in Sydney and Hobart, respectively.

Squads for Pakistan-Australia T20I series

Australia: Josh Inglis (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Josh Philippe, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Spencer Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

Pakistan: Muhammad Rizwan (c), Abbas Afridi, Agha Salman, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah Khan, Irfan Khan, Jahandad Khan, Naseem Shah, Omair Yousuf, Sahibzada Farhan, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Sufiyan Muqeem, Usman Khan.

Pakistan’s right-arm pacer Naseem Shah has recovered from the injury ahead of the second ODI of the ongoing three-match series against Australia, scheduled to be played on Friday here at Adelaide Oval.

According to the details, Naseem participated in the national team’s training session today and bowled at full potential. He will be available for the second ODI, sources further revealed.

Remember, Naseem was forced to leave the field midway his eighth over in the ODI series opener against Australia as the right-arm pacer suffered severe pain due to cramps.

Naseem displayed exceptional all-round brilliance in Pakistan’s two-wicket defeat in the series opener as he registered decent bowling figures of 1/39 in 7.2 overs after a blistering 40-run knock with the bat, which featured one four and four sixes.

Remember, Australia lead the three-match series 1-0, courtesy of their narrow two-wicket victory in the series opener at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG). The second ODI is scheduled to be played at Adelaide Oval on Friday.

The green shirts boast a dismal ODI record at the Adelaide Oval as they managed to win just one out of their eight matches.

Their solitary ODI victory at the venue came in 1996 under the leadership of Wasim Akram when Saqlain Mushtaq’s five-wicket haul bamboozled Australia by 12 wickets.

Squads

Pakistan’s ODI squad: Aamir Jamal, Abdullah Shafique, Arafat Minhas, Babar Azam, Faisal Akram, Haris Rauf, Haseebullah (WK), Kamran Ghulam, Mohammad Hasnain, Mohammad Rizwan (WK), Muhammad Irfan Khan, Naseem Shah, Saim Ayub, Salman Ali Agha, Shaheen Shah Afridi.

Australia’s ODI squad: Pat Cummins (c), Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Josh Hazlewood, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Marnus Labuschagne, Glenn Maxwell, Lance Morris, Josh Philippe, Matthew Short, Steve Smith, Mitchell Starc, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa.

Skipper Faheem Ashraf’s all-round brilliance powered Pakistan to beat Australia and qualify for the Hong Kong Super Sixes final, scheduled to be played later today here at Mission Road Ground.

Put into bat first, Australia notched a commendable total of 107/1 in the allotted six overs.

Opening batters Sam Heazlett and Jack Wood gave Australia a steady start by putting together a dominant 56-run partnership.

The duo appeared to have settled down until Faheem breached Wood’s defence and cleaned him up in the fourth over.

Wood struck four fours and two sixes on his way to a 17-ball 36.

Coming out to bat at No.3, Dan Christian took no time to settle down and went after the Pakistan bowlers. He smashed a quickfire 42 off just 10 balls and remained the top-scorer for Australia, while skipper Heazlett remained unbeaten on a nine-ball 26.

For Pakistan, skipper Faheem claimed the solitary wicket.

Set to chase 108, Pakistan knocked the winning runs on the penultimate delivery when Faheem hit Christian for a match-sealing four.

Earlier, in-form openers once again provided Pakistan with a flamboyant start as they put together 40 runs in just nine deliveries.

Asif Ali, who was the core aggressor of the opening stand, perished on the fifth delivery of the second over after scoring a swashbuckling 32 off just eight deliveries. His knock featured five sixes.

Muhammad Akhlaq made sure to keep the momentum in Pakistan’s favour as he kept up the pace until his dismissal in the fourth over. He scored 32 off 10 balls, hitting three fours and as many sixes in the process.

Faheem Ashraf was then joined by all-rounder Aamer Yamin and together they knitted a match-winning 38-run partnership which took Pakistan over the line with a ball to spare.

Faheem scored an unbeaten 19 from nine balls, while Yamin made 24 not out off just eight deliveries.

For the unversed, Pakistan will face either Sri Lanka or Bangladesh in the Hong Kong Super Sixes final, scheduled to commence later today at 1:45 PM Pakistan Standard Time (PST).

Australia’s batting all-rounder Glenn Maxwell praised Pakistan team’s unique and unpredictable style of play ahead of the One Day International (ODI) series, scheduled to take place from November.

Speaking in an interview, Maxwell shed light on the challenges that teams face while preparing for contests against the men in green.

“They are very hard to prepare for and I suppose get ready for because you’re just not sure what could happen and they are so dangerous in all areas of the game. They’ve got good spinners they’ve got good quicks up front and they’ve got batters that can win games for them” Maxwell said.

“I think you are gonna see those ebbs and flows when you play against them in this white-ball series and it’s gonna be so entertaining because they play an amazing brand of cricket where literally anything could happen. It’s gonna be hard for us to stay in our own bubble and concentrate on our own things because they can be super destructive to whatever plans you’ve got,” he added.

It is worth noting here that the Rizwan-led side have reached Melbourne earlier on Wednesday.

Rizwan was accompanied by vice-captain Salman Ali Agha, Abdullah Shafiq, Aamer Jamal, Saim Ayub, Kamran Ghulam, Haseebullah, and Arafat Minhas.

Previously, prominent players including Babar Azam, Shaheen Shah Afridi, Haris Rauf, and Naseem Shah alongside three other players arrived on Tuesday.

Australian World Cup winner Matthew Wade announced his retirement from international cricket on Tuesday and will become an assistant coach with the national team.

The wicket keeper-batsman played 36 Tests and 189 limited-overs matches for his country, and was a pivotal figure in their T20 World Cup triumph in 2021.

The 36-year-old is now set to be wicketkeeping and fielding coach for the T20 series against Pakistan next month.

“I’m officially retiring,” Wade said, according to Cricket Australia.

“It’s been an ongoing discussion for pretty much every tour or every World Cup that I’ve been on in the last three or four years.”

Matthew Wade played for his country for 13 years and filled in as T20 captain between December 2020 and February 2024.

He was part of the Australia team that made an early exit from the T20 World Cup in June.

“If we went into the last World Cup and I managed to get some runs and we won that, then things would look maybe a little different and maybe I’d keep going,” he said.

“It was just kind of an understanding from all of us.”

Australia on Monday left out their Test stars for the home Twenty20 series against Pakistan, with a new captain set to be named.

The three-match T20 series next month will conclude only four days before Australia embark on the first of a five home Tests against India.

Australia T20 squad: Sean Abbott, Xavier Bartlett, Cooper Connolly, Tim David, Nathan Ellis, Jake Fraser-McGurk, Aaron Hardie, Josh Inglis, Spencer Johnson, Glenn Maxwell, Matthew Short, Marcus Stoinis, Adam Zampa

It’s been decades since Australia’s thylacine, known as the Tasmanian tiger, was declared extinct and scientists say they’ve made a breakthrough as they research ways to bring back the carnivore. 

Colossal Biosciences in a Thursday press release said its reconstructed thylacine genome is about 99.9% complete, with 45 gaps that they’ll work to close through additional sequencing in the coming months. The company also isolated long RNA molecules from a 110-year-old preserved head, which was skinned and kept in ethanol. 

“The thylacine samples used for our new reference genome are among the best preserved ancient specimens my team has worked with,” said Beth Shapiro, Colossal’s chief science officer and the director of the UCSC Paleogenomics Lab, where the samples were processed. “It’s rare to have a sample that allows you to push the envelope in ancient DNA methods to such an extent.”

Efforts to bring back the Tasmanian tiger

The preservation of a complete Tasmanian tiger head meant that scientists could study RNA samples from several important tissue areas, including the tongue, nasal cavity, brain and eye. It will allow researchers to determine what a thylacine could taste and smell, along with what type of vision it had and how its brain worked, according to Andrew Park, a member of Colossal’s Scientific Advisory Board and a researcher at the University of Melbourne’s TIGRR Lab.

“We’re getting closer every day to being able to place the thylacine back into the ecosystem – which of course is a major conservation benefit as well,” Pask said.

Pask, speaking with 60 Minutes earlier this year, said researchers were working with the closest living relative of the Tasmanian tiger — a small marsupial called the fat-tailed dunnart — as a way to bring the animal back. 

“But that little dunnart is a ferocious carnivore, even though it’s very, very small,” Pask said. “And it’s a very good surrogate for us to be able to do all of this editing in.”

Scientists have been comparing the DNA of the dunnart and the thylacine, Pask told 60 Minutes. From there, it’s a matter of going in and editing the DNA to turn a fat-tailed dunnart cell into a thylacine cell.

Colossal Biosciences on Thursday said it had edited more than 300 unique genetic changes into a dunnart cell, making it “the most edited animal cell to date.”

“We are really pushing forward the frontier of de-extinction technologies,” Pask said, “from innovative ways of finding the regions of the genome driving evolution to novel methods to determine gene function. We are in the best place ever to rebuild this species using the most thorough genome resources and the best informed experiments to determine function.”

Efforts aiding the revival of the Tasmanian tiger are not confined to Australia. Last year, scientists recovered and sequenced RNA from a 130-year-old Tasmanian tiger specimen preserved at room temperature in Sweden’s Museum of Natural History. 

How the Tasmanian tiger died off

Thylacines roamed Tasmania for thousands of years. Despite the Tasmanian tiger moniker, the carnivores were marsupials, like kangaroos, koalas and Tasmanian devils.

The local government in the late 1800s paid out bounties to hunters presenting carcasses of Tasmanian tigers because the animals had been eating farmers’ sheep, 60 Minutes previously reported. By the mid-1930s, the Tasmanian tiger population had dwindled to a single thylacine at the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart, Tasmania’s capital. It died there in 1936.

Australia has similarly allowed the culling of Kangaroos, approving the deaths of thousands of kangaroos over the years. Officials have said the kangaroo population was eating through grassy habitats of endangered species. Officials have also warned in the past that there isn’t enough food available to sustain large kangaroo populations. 

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