A professor from Florida has broken the world record for longest time submerged underwater without depressurization, after remaining down there for 74 days. Joseph Dituri, also known as Dr Deep Sea, remained in a scuba lodge under the Florida Keys and broke the previous record of just over 73 days, set in exactly the same location in 2014. According to Dituri, the 74th day wasn’t much different from the first.
Despite breaking the record comfortably, he’s staying exactly where he is. Dituri now plans to break 100 days in the lodge to complete a mission he calls Project Neptune 100.
The challenge was made even more difficult because the lodge is not pressurized to account for the increased underwater pressure, meaning Dituri is subject to the full experience while under there. He is entirely alone, marking a difference from the previous record holders who completed the feat with two people. How did he stay sane in complete isolation for two and a half months? Dituri has a strict underwater regime.
According to APNews, he has microwave-prepared meals, a daily exercise routine of pushups and resistance bands, and – of course – does a lot of science. The project aims to understand how the human body copes with the increased pressure over a long period of time, so he subjects himself to a lot of physiological monitoring to ensure nothing goes unchecked. The end goal of Dituri’s research is for humans to “populate the world’s oceans” so that we can “take care of them”.
For now, it’s back to the same routine as the last few months for the professor, who says there’s still a lot of science to do – we’d rather him than us.
Source Link: Florida Professor Breaks Record For Living Underwater Without Depressurizing