For millions of beachgoers, the sight of a dorsal fin sticking out of the water means a shark with one thing on its mind: prey.

But what is really going on in the shark’s head? If scientists knew, could they control some of the animals’ thoughts and movements?

Jelle Atema, a marine biologist at Boston University in Massachusetts, hopes to find the answers.

He is one year into a four-year project to develop brain implants that could allow humans to remotely guide some shark behavior.