Breath-hold diving elicits a remarkable suite of physiological responses that enable humans to withstand extreme hypoxic conditions. At the core of these adaptations is the diving response, which ...

Ever since Flipper wowed audiences on the big screen, we've been fascinated by dolphins. And one of the most fascinating things about this marine mammal is its ability to dive deep into the ocean. A ...

Evidence that humans can genetically adapt to diving has been identified for the first time in a new study. The evidence suggests that the Bajau, a people group indigenous to parts of Indonesia, have ...

With training, people can hold their breath much longer than most realize, allowing us to dive to remarkable depths underwater. The “mammalian dive response” causes physiological changes to the body, ...

A tribe of Indonesian “fish people” have evolved extra-large spleens that enable them to free dive to incredible depths. The genetic change discovered in the Bajau tribe is the first known example of ...

Consider the spleen. Many may not appreciate or even think about them very much at all, unless they’ve had them removed, but the Bajau people of Southeast Asia rely on them every day without even ...

Try something right now: hold your breath for 5 seconds. Probably easy, right? Now, take a deep breath and double it: hold your breath for 10 seconds. Then 20. If you practice holding your breath a ...

A pod of narwhals in Scoresby Sound, East Greenland, where the study took place. (Photo by C. Egevang) A large male narwhal raises his tusk as he catches his breath before diving in Scoresby Sound.