The Trick Behind Diving

Earth is the home of billions of organisms. Even though the Earth is perfectly designed to sustain life there are some places that certain animals can’t travel to because the environment is so extreme. Jessica Meir goes to these extreme environments and studies how animals have survived in such harsh environmental condition. Jessica mainly looks for animals that are hypoxic; these are animals that can survive with little oxygen sort of like seals. According to Jessica the emperor penguin can go under water for thirty minutes with a single breath, she also discovered that the elephant seal can dive under for two hours with one breath. Jessica is so fascinated in this because she wants to know how such little oxygen can sustain all the function a seal needs for two hours. Jessica also observed that both these mammals can dive more then a thousand meters. What makes these mammals such expert divers? Jessica and her colleagues discovered that they have oxygen-storage capability which comes from a high volume in blood and lots of proteins that carry oxygen to the muscles. Scientists like Jessica have made these discoveries by using a recording machine that tracks any physiological changes while in a dive. The seal’s management of oxygen allows it to make such great dives, when compared to a humans it’s extremely different, the human body uses the oxygen ten times faster.
The study of these aquatic mammals is the direct study of biology. When the scientists look for the reason to their success at diving they look for biological factors of the mammal. They look for protein cells, blood cells, blood volume, etc; these all have to do with the biology of the mammal that is why it is related.
This is a very important topic because not only does it explain why these animals are such expert divers but it can help treat some of our medical conditions like heart attacks and strokes. After a heart attack the heart doest work as well and so it pumps less blood cells that carry oxygen threw the body. By knowing how they distribute there blood we can then use that on humans and control there oxygen consumption possibly saying a victim from paralyzing any organ. It is truly interesting how discovering the secrets to how an animal survives can possibly be a solution to our medical conditions, there like almost two opposites. But knowing how these two opposites can go together can be a revolutionary discovery in the medical science field.




Link:
http://www.nsf.gov/discoveries/disc_summ.jsp?cntn_id=115268&org=NSF