Don’t Gnash Your Teeth Over Shark Week, Shark Lovers

Yes, Our Chomp-Prone Ocean Friends Get Demonized, But Let’s Take Advantage of Public Interest and Set the Record Straight

When I was a little boy growing up in Pittsburgh, hundreds of miles from the ocean, the only sharks I ever saw were at the aquarium or on my TV. These early images helped inspire me to become a shark biologist. I’ve now interacted with thousands of sharks up close, including a face-to-face with a 12-foot sand tiger shark that formed the basis of my college admission essay.

Today, I’m just as excited as I was when I was a little boy about the now 26-year-old Shark Week, the Discovery Channel’s …