Quote:
Originally Posted by jyl
This makes me wonder if humans could be adapted to extreme deep sea pressures by 1) flooding lungs and sinuses with water, 2) somehow suppressing the gag/choke reflex, 3) artificially oxygenating blood (basically an ECMO machine).
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The ears are a major problem. Just dive to the bottom of the standard back yard pool at 12 feet and the pressure on your ears feels like a lot. It is a challenge for some scuba divers as well.
It is one reason they have to descend slowly. I made the mistake of riding along in our airplane on a trip up to northern Missouri when I had a sinus infection. We went up to just 9,000 feet but I thought my nose was likely to pop off and spatter on the G-1000 instrument panel. The pilot dropped altitude, and we just rode in hot air to make it a lot better on my sinus but sweatier.