Anglers in Florida are doing more than just catch and release. Many sport fishers are taking part in a scientific study to determine whether the tarpon fish are holding up to angling pressure, or becoming over-fished. The Suncoast Tarpon Roundup is conducting the study. The organization asks anglers to take DNA scrapings from a tarpon’s jaw to add it to the registry and determine the lifespan of each of the silver fish. According to an article in the St. Petersburg Times, only 11 of 82 fish tagged between 2002 and 2007 died; and most of those deaths were attributed to shark attack. The registry currently tracks more than 2,251,250 tarpon and aims to tag 3,000 more in 2010 with the help of anglers and fishing enthusiasts in the area.
Category: Research
Custom Armour Protects Athletes
Certain sports require padding to protect athletes. That padding has sections, panels, seams, and doesn’t always conform to the body. The Tailored Injury Prevention & Performance Improvement for Protective Sports Garments project known as SCUTA is a joint effort with experts from Loughborough, Nottingham, Cambridge, and Cranfield University in the U.K. and the Georgia Institute of Technology in the U.S. SCUTA works on the areas of manufactguring, sports technology, sports science, remote sensing, and impact and aims to develop garments tailored to the individual.
SCUTA concentrates on garments for three disciplines: Football, Taekwondo, and Cricket,
though it doesn’t specify if that’s American or European Football, one can assume both sports would benefit from the research. The group researches garments made from an additive manufacturing method known as Rapid Manufacturing, which allows for the production of virtually any geometry. It
can be custom made through a three-dimensional scanning process so each team member gets his own garment that fits the body perfectly. The garment
will be made in one piece, without seams or joins, and can be optimized to reduce the particular impact conditions of the sport and even position player. The defensive players may get a garment that’s protective in different areas than the offensive players. The project utilizes state of the art manufacturing, biomechanical, and impact facilities to continue its reasearch.