You've found Curiosity Daily from Discovery the best place to get smarter in just a few minutes.

I'm Nate.

And I'm Callie. Thank you so much for joining us today. And if you're a loyal listener, welcome back.

Today you learn about the demand for a compound called squaleen that is decimating

deep water shark populations, an amazing effort to create an eco-friendly lubricant using green chemistry and the surprising

connection between Shepherds, Women, and Wildfires. Okay, before I get

defended by that, let's figure out what you mean. In case you've been living under a rock it is

Sharkbeak on Discovery which is like a week-long holiday for science and nature nerds like us and we can't

celebrate these ancient iconic creatures without addressing the dangers they face.

Absolutely. I've read that a staggering amount of sharks are caught and killed every year.

I've heard as many as like a hundred million.

So, yeah, the number of sharks killed every year is hard to pin down. I've seen estimates around 86 million and up to a quarter of a billion. But no matter what that number is, the fact is it's just too high. And the thing is, many

sharks are swept up in fishing nets and caught is bycatch. In other words, they are

not the target of fisheries, but they get caught nonetheless.

It's hard to imagine accidentally catching a hundred million sharks every year.

Okay, well that's the thing. The fact is, whether some fisheries claim their accidental

catches or not, there is a market for sharks.

Treaties like the Convention on International Trade and Endangered Species of

Wild Fauna and Flora or Sites have focused on limiting the killing of coastal and oceanic shark species, but there's a new

target that could have huge impacts on shark populations and the health of our oceans.

Deepwater shark species.

Okay, that doesn't sound good.

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