Have you ever gone swimming in a place where you can go pretty deep, and tried to go down as far as you could? Some pools go down as much as 4 or 5 meters, or about 15 feet. If you swim down there, you begin to notice a building pressure inside your ear and sinus area. The lower in that pool you go, the more this pressure builds. That’s why divers will sometimes pinch their nose and blow out slowly, equalizing the inside of the sinus cavity.
My deepest freedive (just me and a mask/fins) was 103ft. My lungs went from fully inflated to smaller than both my fists together or about the same size as my heart (the heart doesn't compress because of blood)
You pressurize your nose and equalize your ears. There's also a hands free technique I never mastered. But jokes are going down 130 meters!! and equalizing the entire way.
Platypus is my vote. It’s got everything, including venom. I think platypus is Latin for “pick a lane.” It has mammal, avian, and reptilian parts. It was thought to be fictional until somebody caught one.
On another note, I read about the divers earlier this year that are trying to use hydrogen to break the deep dive record for humans, and it is an interesting read if you have not read it before:
John Green is another place I'll visit from time to time on YouTube. I mean, he's a person and not a place, but I mean the "place" where his work resides, like Crash Course and stuff like that. I like the animated medium to explain stuff that might seem daunting in a textbook, and Kurzgesagt and Crash Course get those things right in a big way.
To me the most surprising form of life is something others consider very simple... Salmon. It really seems like they evolved for the express purpose of feeding everything else around them, even though that makes absolutely no sense from a survival standpoint. I know the actual evolutionary history is more complicated than that, but they just seem to be willing sacrifices to keep the food chain strong.
There are definitely species that have prospered thanks only to humans eating them, like cows, pigs, and chickens. Salmon, on the other hand, were plentiful before, but there are far fewer of them now than before the Industrial Revolution.
I think we might have an interesting side-observation here, too, about animals whose existence is completely at the pleasure of humans. I'm gonna let that churn for a bit.
This almost demands a complementary article about atmospheric pressure as you go ABOVE sea-level. The pressure at everest, how our ears pop as we climb hogher, maybe even how various birds or atmospheric effects adapt to that lower pressure up high.
Demodex folliculorum, skin mites. A little closer to home than some might prefer. I find denizens of the deep like Angler Fish fascinating. Thanks so much for this essay.
It’s also the idea of entire ecosystems based on chemosynthesis instead of photosynthesis. This has huge implications for the origins of life on Earth (and, as you pointed out, elsewhere in the universe).
The evolution of photosynthesis was actually a catastrophe for most life due to the introduction of oxygen into the atmosphere; the recovery of life after periodic extirpations due to oxygen poisoning (as evidenced by iron oxide layers in sediments sandwiched between sterile layers) was suddenly explained if chemosynthetic habitats existed as refugia.
My deepest freedive (just me and a mask/fins) was 103ft. My lungs went from fully inflated to smaller than both my fists together or about the same size as my heart (the heart doesn't compress because of blood)
What did you do to deal with the sinus pressure?
You pressurize your nose and equalize your ears. There's also a hands free technique I never mastered. But jokes are going down 130 meters!! and equalizing the entire way.
Some folks are capable of doing some incredible things with their bodies. I'm pretty good with just being able to sort of bend myself in half.
Platypus is my vote. It’s got everything, including venom. I think platypus is Latin for “pick a lane.” It has mammal, avian, and reptilian parts. It was thought to be fictional until somebody caught one.
Okay, that's a good one.
Have you seen this graphics about deep sea animals?
https://neal.fun/deep-sea/
What an accrual of information! I’ve marveled at Angler Fish for years. Now I have companions also worthy of marvel. Thanks.
No, but that's fantastic! Everyone, go check it out.
On another note, I read about the divers earlier this year that are trying to use hydrogen to break the deep dive record for humans, and it is an interesting read if you have not read it before:
https://www.technologyreview.com/2024/02/21/1088013/divers-hydrogen-deep-water-diving-underwater-pressure/
"In fact, so would a submarine, except for a very few, very recent exceptions."
I know you're not talking about OceanGate. Too soon?
But the deep ocean is amazing. Dumbo Octopus? Sign me up!
And here's the customary Kurzgesagt link on the topic: https://youtu.be/PaErPyEnDvk?si=uoCVIS2kENbSzl4G
John Green is another place I'll visit from time to time on YouTube. I mean, he's a person and not a place, but I mean the "place" where his work resides, like Crash Course and stuff like that. I like the animated medium to explain stuff that might seem daunting in a textbook, and Kurzgesagt and Crash Course get those things right in a big way.
These “droppings from above” might be experienced as mana from heaven by those living in the dark depths.
Divine doodypoops!
To me the most surprising form of life is something others consider very simple... Salmon. It really seems like they evolved for the express purpose of feeding everything else around them, even though that makes absolutely no sense from a survival standpoint. I know the actual evolutionary history is more complicated than that, but they just seem to be willing sacrifices to keep the food chain strong.
There are definitely species that have prospered thanks only to humans eating them, like cows, pigs, and chickens. Salmon, on the other hand, were plentiful before, but there are far fewer of them now than before the Industrial Revolution.
True. Commercial fishing has been very hard on marine life.
I think we might have an interesting side-observation here, too, about animals whose existence is completely at the pleasure of humans. I'm gonna let that churn for a bit.
This almost demands a complementary article about atmospheric pressure as you go ABOVE sea-level. The pressure at everest, how our ears pop as we climb hogher, maybe even how various birds or atmospheric effects adapt to that lower pressure up high.
Sam, I like it. I'll have to chew on it in the back of my mind a bit, but it is in my idea repository!
Demodex folliculorum, skin mites. A little closer to home than some might prefer. I find denizens of the deep like Angler Fish fascinating. Thanks so much for this essay.
Great example, Gary! I'm really glad this one resonated, too.
I remember when the first deep sea geothermal vents were discovered; I was just beginning grad school. It blew me away!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hydrothermal_vent_microbial_communities
Life really does find a way, and this really gave us something new to consider about the potential for extraterrestrial life, too, didn't it?
It’s also the idea of entire ecosystems based on chemosynthesis instead of photosynthesis. This has huge implications for the origins of life on Earth (and, as you pointed out, elsewhere in the universe).
The evolution of photosynthesis was actually a catastrophe for most life due to the introduction of oxygen into the atmosphere; the recovery of life after periodic extirpations due to oxygen poisoning (as evidenced by iron oxide layers in sediments sandwiched between sterile layers) was suddenly explained if chemosynthetic habitats existed as refugia.
So many implications!😁
Now that's a 300,000 foot view!
the poop chronicles continue
https://goatfury.substack.com/t/poop
brilliant