I wish you all a good weekend, and I hope this week has been of much profit. Today I come with a topic that particularly caught my attention a few days ago that I was reviewing, a little to entertain the mind with something different than usual, and unintentionally I came to a topic of Biogenetics, yes, I know it is not something that interests many people but I know that the interesting users of this community if you can be interested, so I bring this information to socialize.
I came across a video on You tube that talked about a tribe in the Philippines that has always lived by the sea, that is, their life revolves around the sea. They still have many activities that are primitive, they live exclusively on fish, their houses are made on the sea, that is, that is their habitat. But this might not be very interesting probably, however there is a curious fact, and I will summarize it as follows: *they can dive up to 60 meters deep in the sea and stay up to 13 minutes without breathing!
If so, I invite you to read on, because what I have to tell you will surely interest you.
I usually write about medicine, clinical cases and diseases, but I have also commented in other articles that I have shared that I am very interested in genetics, and this particular case is specifically studied from biogenetics.
So that we understand what this is about, biogenetics is the study of the relationship between genetics and human behavior. This branch of science focuses on how genes influence an individual's behavior, thinking and development.
This is how I have come to study a bit of this tribe and their abilities for now considered over human. What do you think would happen to a person if they were to dive 60 meters into the deep sea without any protection?
What happens to our body under these conditions is as follows:.
If a human being were to dive 60 meters deep into the sea without any protection, he would probably experience a number of negative effects on his body due to the pressure and lack of oxygen.
As the depth increases, the water pressure increases as well, which can cause damage to internal tissues and organs. At a depth of 60 meters, the pressure is about 6 times higher than at the sea surface, which can cause serious injury to the lungs, inner ear and eyes. This part is crucial, for example the pulmonary blood vessels collapse, and the possibility of gas exchange would not be there.
Lack of oxygen is also a major problem at these depths. At 60 meters depth, the amount of oxygen available is significantly less than at the surface, which can cause hypoxia (lack of oxygen) and eventually death.
In addition, the human body is not designed to withstand the extreme conditions of the deep sea, and professional divers use diving suits and air supply equipment to protect themselves from the pressures and lack of oxygen. Without this protection, a human being could not survive a 60-meter deep dive. This is what would happen to any of us, those of you reading this post and me.
This is where Biogenetics comes in, a mutation has been found in the genes of this tribe that could be the cause of these superhuman qualities. This gene is responsible for causing the thyroid gland to produce a hormone that acts on the spleen and makes it increase in size.
The enlargement of the spleen has been linked in animals to their increased ability to tolerate long periods of time without breathing. Beyond the function of the spleen in terms of taking care of the body in terms of immunity and eliminating red blood cells that are no longer able to perform their function properly.
The spleen of the members of this tribe was studied by ultrasound and compared in size with those of other nearby tribes whose lives are not centered on the sea, and it was found to be up to 50% larger. This demonstrates the relationship between this organ and the increased respiratory capacity, something that for now, it is not yet clear how it affects positively.
It is also unclear why and how the organs of the members of this tribe are able to tolerate the high pressures at the bottom of the sea without suffering any type of collapse. Most probably the answer lies in the gene discovered, but there is still a long way to go to have precise answers in this aspect.
I must say that from a scientific point of view this is particularly striking for me, I hope it is the same for you.
Basically what these people are capable of doing is considered inhumane, because under these extreme conditions any person dies quickly, however for them it is part of their daily life for centuries, for that reason the body created that genetic record and is passed from generation to generation, which facilitates the process from a young age.
Of course, there is also the fact that it is something that is done habitually, and that practice allows that gene to be expressed, but it should be noted that it is not something that we all have, so it is being studied by science, as it is an exceptional case of human resistance.
I wanted to share this information with everyone, I hope you liked it, did you know about this tribe, do you think this is something that anyone could do, did you find it interesting? If you have something to add you can leave it in the comments and we can all learn from it.
I will leave you links to interesting information and videos:
