Archive Gallery: Man vs. Shark

Fighting Sharks with a Homemade Harpoon/Shotgun

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The Olympics ended on Sunday, but if we know our readers, many of you were still glued to your televisions as the Discovery Channel's Shark Week began, with hours upon hours of programming dedicated to these fearsome, fascinating creatures. We at PopSci have to confess to being equally intrigued by sharks, an interest that has continued throughout history.

Though, the farther back you go in our archives, the more our shark coverage seems less like scientific curiosity and more like bloodlust. We were only too happy when shark skin started being turned into leather, for example.

In more recent history, though, the author of "Jaws" wrote a story for us that cast sharks not as the villain, but as a misunderstood monster that is just as afraid of us as we are of it. And lately, our weapon of choice for protecting ourselves against shark attacks is a harmless electronic repellent, not a combination harpoon/shotgun.

You can see all this and more in this week's archive gallery: a look back at our strained, but evolving, relationship with these toothy terrors of the sea.