Whale shark identfication software wins Australian U$100,000 prize - 26 October
A method of recognising whale sharks based on the starry night sky has won Australian marine biologist Brad Norman a US$100,000 prize from a watchmaking company.
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After spending hours laboriously cataloguing and manually checking photographs of the sharks, Norman decided there had to be an easier way. A software-developing friend in the U.S., Jason Holmberg, introduced him to Zaven Arzoumanian, an astronomer with the U.S. space agency NASA who suggested that shark spots might be a bit like trying to recognise patterns of stars in the sky.
For the full story, see http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/node/799
Contributed by Tim Hochgrebe added 2006-10-28
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Tim Hochgrebe added 2006-10-31
Read the full story on this achievement in our special article at http://www.underwater.com.au/article.php/id/6558/
I think it is a great tool that can and will be used for loads of other species.
Well done Brad .. and you probably got a great new WATCH too ;-)
Tim
Tim Hochgrebe
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