Overview
- Reports on Monday said researchers at the University of Alicante and the Polytechnic University of Valencia have developed a floating buoy that emits controlled electromagnetic pulses to influence jellyfish movement.
- The team says the fields reduce the animals' pulsation so specimens briefly sink or float instead of swimming toward the shore or an intake, and that the effect is non‑lethal and reversible.
- The prototype places multiple coil emitters at different depths on a weighted chain and houses generators and power supplies in a single floating unit to cover a vertical water column.
- The university’s tech‑transfer office has published a technology offer to find commercial partners, and press accounts differ on intellectual property with some outlets reporting a patent application and others saying a patent is already activated.
- Developers point to real operational harms from jellyfish—such as intake blockages on ships and at power and desalination plants—and say the buoy could reduce beach closures and industrial disruptions, though large‑scale field trials and regulatory approval have not been reported.