Bend out of shape
Question: Your feature on glowing dolphins started
me thinking about the species. Can you tell me why dolphins, and indeed other
deep-diving mammals, manage to avoid the “bends”? As a regular diver I am aware
of the danger. Is there anything I can learn from the dolphins?
Answer: Yes, you can learn something from dolphins: breath-hold dive (that
is, hold your breath as you swim downwards) instead of breathing compressed
nitrogen.
During a scuba dive, the pressure of the air you breathe (which is 80 per
cent nitrogen) at a increases depending on your depth. The…
