diving

The answer, according to our new report, is an overwhelming yes.

As you may have heard on NPR's Marketplace this morning, our report, Sea the Value: Quantifying the Value of Marine Life to Divers, asked scuba divers whether they would be willing to pay to help protect populations of ocean wildlife -- and a majority of divers surveyed said they would.

Chances are, you’ve never heard of Hugh Bradner, and you didn’t know that he passed away this week. Or that he had a distinguished career as physicist, professor emeritus at Scripps and diving pioneer.

If you surf or dive, chances are you're in debt to Dr. Bradner for making your oceanic fun more comfortable; he also invented the wetsuit. Although many make this claim, it was Hugh Bradner who first reasoned that trapping water beneath a material containing air bubbles could provide insulation, and designed a suit based on this very principle.

These days, millions of divers, surfers, and even a penguin rely on wetsuits for warmth while enjoying aquatic adventures. Next time you don your wetsuit, take a moment to thank Hugh Bradner for his revolutionary idea.