Aquaman becomes a reality?
One of the first movies I watched that showcased Scuba Diving was James Cameron's 1989 film, "The Abyss" in which character Bud Brigman breathes 'liquid'. This enables him to dive into a deep trench and by breathing liquid not air Bud avoids getting decompression sickness.
The record for the deepest Scuba dive was set in June 2005 at 318 meters by a diver known as Nuno Gomes. It took Mr Gomes 14 minutes to descend to this depth but a tiresome 12 hours to return to the surface. Normal means of scuba diving make it unpractical to dive to great depths such as this and that's where American surgeon Arnold Lande has made Buds ticket to the depths a potential reality.
Liquid ventilation/breathing has been in practice since the mid-1990s on premature babies which saw a 5% survival rate sky-rocket to a 60% survival rate. However, it is not widely popular or used.
Lande's scuba suit sees divers enhale highly-oxygenated perfluorocarbons (PFCs) – a type of liquid that can dissolve large amounts of gas, this liquid would replace all the air in the lungs, nose and ear cavities. By breathing this highly oxygenated liquid we avoid having to use the highly compressed gasses in the lungs that in 'normal' means of scuba diving dissolve into our blood and on fast ascents cause decompression sickness. In short - by breathing liquid air, we can dive to greater depths with very little to no risk of decompression sickness. We are essentially - a fish!
Lande believes his biggest obstacle to the suits success will be convincing divers to take that first breath of liquid oxygen.
My opinion: The diving-as-a-hobby side of me believes that while it would be more than amazing to literally breathe like a fish (or SHARK!), it seems unpractical in terms of an every day diver. True light fails to "show" much deeper than 200m - so as an enjoyable experience, gagging on some liquid until it fills your lungs seems like over kill. Besides, im not 100% sure ide like to come face-to-face with a vampire squid. However, the researcher side of me believes if Lande comes through with the goods it could result in a number of breakthroughs in an otherwise "dark" area of knowledge.
Its something to think about I suppose...
Daa Dum,
Sarah Shark
