Sharks are incredibly unlikely to bite you. They’re even less likely to kill you. However, we remain fascinated with their ability – and occasional proclivity – to do just that. With so many things more likely to harm us, why do we pay such rapt attention when sharks make headlines?As a shark researcher and curator of the International Shark Attack File (ISAF), it’s a question I think about each spring when I prepare my annual report of shark-attack statistics. This year we had some good news: In 2014 fatalities were down worldwide, as were attacks. In the US, attacks were up only slightly from 47 last year to 52, with most of those being minor incidents that are more like dog bites than something out of Jaws.
