Name: What If You Had to Live Underwater for Years
Uploaded: 2020-03-12T07:00:50.000Z
Duration: 8 min 31 s
Description: Thousands of YouTube videos with English-Chinese subtitles! Now you can learn to understand native speakers, expand your vocabulary, and improve your pronunciation...

So, how long can you hold your breath underwater?

Sentences with advanced comparative

I bet not as long as Aleix Segura Vendrell from Spain!

A professional free diver, he managed to hold his breath for 24 minutes and 4 seconds, and

I just can't wrap my head around this fact!

But it got me wondering: could people live underwater?

Come to think of it, living underwater would have loads of advantages.

For example, hurricanes and tsunamis wouldn't be dangerous anymore: in a deep-water house,

People wouldn't need aquariums anymore, what with fish swimming around everywhere.

You wouldn't need a swimming pool if you decided to throw a pool party.

There would be more space for guests, and you’d be able to play hide-and-seek among

On a more serious note though, people, unfortunately, aren't designed for living underwater.

Remember how your fingers get wrinkled when you spend too much time in the water?

Now imagine your whole body looking like that!

Plus, your muscles are built to help you move on land.

That's why, if you spent all your time underwater, they would atrophy, and you’d become incredibly

What I mean is that if people had to spend their lives in the water, they’d have to

evolve and turn into a completely different species.

And if you think growing gills would be enough, think again!

Let’s be honest, your limbs aren't the most effective implements when it comes to swimming.

That's why you’d also have to grow fins.

You don't have enough body hair or body fat to stay in the water for a long time and not

Plus, if you decided to live in a lake or river, you wouldn't be able to see clearly

because the water wouldn't be that transparent.

But even if you chose the ocean as your new home, you’d have the same problem.

Yes, closer to the ocean surface, the water is much clearer than in any lake.

And your gills would supply you with oxygen, which would prevent you from blacking out

But at a depth of 650 ft, it would already be too dark for you to see anything.

And don't forget about the water pressure!

Let's say you decide to avoid these problems altogether and settle in the shallows where

you wouldn't need any pressurized airspace.

But then, how would you communicate with those around you?

Your ears and eyes have been developing for thousands of years to work in the air.

That's why underwater communication would be a huge challenge.

You’d be able to talk if you saved some air in your lungs.

But sooner or later, you’d run out of any way to make your vocal cords vibrate, producing

Electronics wouldn't work underwater (which you probably know if you've ever dropped your

That means that you’d have to communicate with the help of hand signals.

But I guess darkness, along with murky water, would make communication difficult.

Also, have you ever tried to munch on a hot dog at the bottom of a river?

Then you know that eating underwater would be one of the most challenging things.

And finally, the biggest organ of your body, meaning your skin, would have to go through

Returning to those wrinkled fingers: this effect is created by tiny bubbles of water

that get trapped between the two layers of your skin.

And the most shocking thing is that it doesn't happen because your body absorbs liquid!

On the contrary, it's a particular way your skin changes to be able to grip stuff when

In other words, if your fingers didn't get pruney, they’d be too slippery for you to

This coping mechanism sounds cool, but, in fact, it isn't.

Scientists still don't understand the reasons completely, but when you spend too much time

in the water, your skin starts to break down.

That means developing wounds and infections until eventually, it falls off completely.

So, if you lived underwater all the time, you’d need to replace your good old skin

However, scientists don't deny that one day, genetics might go as far as to modify humans

so that they’re able to live underwater!

Write down in the comments below which modification you’d be looking forward to if you had to

What if they just adapted to the existing circumstances?

Nowadays, the idea of the colonization of Mars comes up more and more often.

Meanwhile, people forget that the ocean is much closer and even more livable!

And since the surface of our planet is 71% water, and oceans hold more than 96% of all

this water, why not make it a new home for future generations?

Of course, people would have to deal with a number of serious challenges, like I mentioned

Underwater cities and colonies wouldn't be built deeper than 1,000 feet.

Any deeper than that and the structures, along with their inhabitants, would collapse under

See for yourself: if you went out of the 1,000-ft-deep underwater city without some kind of protection,

like an atmospheric diving suit, you’d be affected by the pressure of 30 atmospheres.

It means that the pressure you’d feel would be 30 times stronger than that on land at

Granted, humans are tough creatures and can withstand the pressure of 71 atmospheres.

But only for a short time and not without bad things happening to our bodies.

Yes, the ocean would definitely have a crush on you!

Anyway, even at the depth of 1,000 feet, the walls of the buildings in an underwater city

would have to be super thick and massive.

Only this way would they manage to withstand the water pressure and protect the people

The colonies would also have to be pressurized.

If they weren't, who knows how it would influence their bodies!

Plus, people wouldn’t only have to solve the problem of oxygen supply, but also figure

out how to maintain the correct ratio of various air components.