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Displaying items by tag: Oxygen

#Diving - Diving with an oxygen tank might soon be a thing of the past thanks to a new material that could allow divers to breathe underwater without bulky gear.

According to Discovery News, the crystalline material is made from cobalt and acts like a sponge, sucking up oxygen from the air - or water - around it and releasing it when needed.

The so-called 'Aquaman crystal' is being researched by scientists at the University of Southern Denmark, who explain that just a few grains of the substance contain enough oxygen for one breath.

"As the material can absorb oxygen from the water around the diver and supply the diver with it, the diver will not need to bring more than these few grains," said Prof Christine McKenzie.

But the revolutionary new material has applications beyond diving, such as in medicine for patients who require oxygen tanks to assist their breathing.

Discovery News has more on the story HERE.

Published in Diving
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William M Nixon has been writing about sailing in Ireland and internationally for many years, with his work appearing in leading sailing publications on both sides of the Atlantic. He has been a regular sailing columnist for four decades with national newspapers in Dublin, and has had several sailing books published in Ireland, the UK, and the US. An active sailor, he has owned a number of boats ranging from a Mirror dinghy to a Contessa 35 cruiser-racer, and has been directly involved in building and campaigning two offshore racers. His cruising experience ranges from Iceland to Spain as well as the Caribbean and the Mediterranean, and he has raced three times in both the Fastnet and Round Ireland Races, in addition to sailing on two round Ireland records. A member for ten years of the Council of the Irish Yachting Association (now the Irish Sailing Association), he has been writing for, and at times editing, Ireland's national sailing magazine since its earliest version more than forty years ago