Sharks & Preventing Bacteria On Products
While Sharks are pretty amazing, you’d be surprised to learn that they are among the animals that inspired scientists to do something incredible. One issue the United States Navy’s ships & submarines dealt with was “fouling.” This is the accumulation of unwanted material on solid surfaces such as barnacles and algae for ships. This can reduce the efficiency of ships and other things. However, Dr. Anthony Brennan was brought in to fix this issue and he found that sharks were the only marine animal that does not foul. The skin of sharks is comprised of denticles that overlap in a diamond shape repeating pattern, which stops bacteria from growing. Brennan and his team realized they could replicate this to prevent bacteria on not just ships but numerous products. This led to the “Sharklet” tech being used on countless products.