00:00So, think about it, what was the weirdest thing you've ever done for work?
00:04Printing hundreds of pages of useless reports or unknotting holiday lights?
00:09Well, there's a scientist out there who spent 100 days below the surface of the Atlantic
00:14Ocean.
00:15Dr. Joseph Dieterich, or rather, Dr. Deep Sea, as he likes to call himself, was living
00:20underwater as part of Project Neptune 100.
00:24This project is a long-term study of how compression affects humans, both physiologically and
00:29psychologically.
00:30Dr. Deep Sea, who's a biomedical engineer and University of South Florida associate
00:36professor, went under the sea to see if increased pressure can help humans live longer and prevent
00:42health problems that come with old age.
00:45From day one of the mission, Dr. Dieterich was actively sharing what was going on in
00:50his social networks.
00:52He mentioned that another important goal for him was to inspire scientists from different
00:56generations to study life undersea.
01:00After 74 days of the mission, he officially set a new Guinness World Record for the longest
01:05time living in an underwater fixed habitat.
01:09But he didn't just jump out on the surface after it and stayed the planned 100 days.
01:15The scientist definitely wasn't bored for those 14 weeks.
01:18He collected data, collaborated with other researchers, virtually taught a biomedical
01:23engineering course at his university, and reached out to thousands of students from
01:2715 countries online.
01:30Once the mission was over, Dr. Dieterich was greeted by his family and friends, the media,
01:35and many fans who were following his work online.
01:38Dr. Deep Sea is now 55 years old, and he claims that living underwater has really made him
01:44feel 10 years younger.
01:46The doctors who greeted him, and the results of the tests they have so far, prove the de-aging
01:51effect.
01:52Our hero has some improvement in his sleep and metabolism.
01:55He also noted that his body had shrunk a half an inch.
01:59Wow, 2,300 more days and he'd be a foot shorter.
02:03Maybe.
02:04Probably not.
02:05If you want to try a light version of what Dr. Deep Sea has gone through, you have two
02:10options.
02:11The first option is hyperbaric oxygen therapy.
02:14You go inside a special chamber where the air pressure is higher than normal.
02:18It helps more oxygen get inside your lungs.
02:21It has a healing effect on your body.
02:23Too much oxygen can be a bad thing, though, so these chambers must follow strict regulations.
02:29You can also stay in the exact same place where Dr. Dieterich lived.
02:33It's called Jules Undersea Lodge, after Jules Verne, the author of 20,000 Leagues Under
02:39the Sea.
02:40It's a two-bedroom apartment located 30 feet below the surface of a lagoon in Key Largo,
02:45Florida.
02:46Don't worry, your prospective home won't sail away.
02:49It's attached to the seabed by leg structures.
02:52There are three windows with a direct ocean view and some marine life outside.
02:57A lot of it.
02:58There's also a command center that keeps oxygen, water, and power levels under control.
03:03An air conditioner keeps the temperature comfortable.
03:06And a chef dives in to cook meals for the guests upon request.
03:10You can't just dive in to see if they have a spare room, though.
03:13There's some paperwork involved for each guest.
03:16And you'll have to put on some gear and leave it in the wet room before you get into
03:20the nice and comfortable apartment.
03:23As for Dr. Dieterich, he doesn't plan to stop his studies of how humans can survive
03:28in isolated environments.
03:29He's going to take a flight on a modified airliner where you can experience zero gravity
03:35multiple times.
03:36Something not for the weak of stomach.
03:38It's the next step to his dream of becoming a civilian astronaut and traveling into space
03:43by 2026.
03:45Dr. Deepse wasn't the first scientist to stay alone in an unusual setting for research
03:51purposes.
03:52Italian sociologist Maurizio Montalbini had spent a total of two years and eight months
03:57in caves to see how the human mind and body would cope with complete isolation.
04:02He started his experiments in the 1980s.
04:05At the end of 1986, he entered a cave in the Apennine Mountains near Acana in Italy.
04:11He would only get back on the surface 210 days later, which made him the world record
04:16breaker for spending the longest in complete isolation at that time.
04:21Montalbini survived on a high-calorie diet of powdered foods and pills, much like those
04:26that astronauts use on space flights.
04:29Scientists monitored his health using special tools from the outside of the cave.
04:34Maurizio would later break his own record, and he shared that the only way to do it was
04:39to make a friend of solitude instead of fighting it.
04:42He did his experiments in collaboration with NASA and universities around the world and
04:47proved that isolation affects time perception and sleep.
04:52An interior designer from Ancona was so inspired by the experiments that she volunteered to
04:57take part in a similar one herself in 1989.
05:01Stefania Folini spent four months in an underground room 30 feet down in the Loth Cave in New
05:07Mexico.
05:09The experiment was on circadian rhythms, those 24-hour cycles that are part of your body's
05:14internal clock.
05:15Stefania had no natural clues on what time or day it was.
05:20Soon enough, she stayed awake for more than 20 hours and slept for 10 hours at a time.
05:25So her biological clock changed into a 48-hour day cycle.
05:30She stayed entertained down there, thanks to a guitar, a computer, two friendly mice,
05:35some frogs, and some grasshoppers.
05:38She decorated the cave with cutouts from cardboard when she got bored and did judo to stay strong
05:43and flexible.
05:44Once the experiment was over, the scientist who greeted Stefania asked her to guess what
05:49day it was.
05:51She felt like it was the middle of March.
05:53But in reality, she went out of the cave on May 22, so she lost the perception of time
05:59and 17 pounds.
06:01Her meals were super spread out because of her new regime, and because she mostly ate
06:06beans and rice, she had a shortage of vitamin D.
06:10You know that feeling when your parents tell you something all the time, and you wish you
06:14could prove them wrong?
06:16Well, it drove Dr. Donald Unger into an unusual scientific experiment.
06:21He cracked the knuckles on his left hand twice a day for over 50 years.
06:25He didn't get any terrible health conditions, unlike what his mother told him.
06:30Of course, that evidence can't be enough to prove or disprove this common belief, but
06:34there are other studies that showed the same results.
06:38Regine Greaves, a biologist from British Columbia, Canada, decided to ignore the wisdom we all
06:44know, sleep tight, don't let the bedbugs bite, and let bedbugs bite her, around 180,000
06:50times, all for science.
06:53She did it to test and find the most effective compounds to attract and trap bedbugs.
06:59Once those little unwelcome guests get inside your building, making them leave can be tricky
07:04and cost a lot.
07:05The biologist, together with her team, decided to see if baiting traps with pheromones could
07:11help lure the bugs and detect their gatherings before they multiply.
07:15They were missing one puzzle piece – the compound that bedbugs use to determine that
07:19a particular habitat is a safe place for them to settle.
07:23And that's how Greaves became bait for bedbugs.
07:27Her team managed to find that the compound they were looking for was histamine, which
07:31humans produce during immune responses.
07:34The researchers believe this means they can produce really cheap chemical traps for those
07:39little pests.
07:40Dr. Kevin Warwick, former professor of cybernetics at the University of Reading, became the world's
07:47first real cyborg.
07:49He connected his own nervous system to a computer to see how technology can change healthcare.
07:55He implanted a device in his left arm to transmit his own neural signals to a robotic
08:00hand and control it.
08:02The scientist believes implants are the ideal solution for people with neurological problems,
08:07as they can control objects just by thinking about moving.
08:11And it doesn't have to be only about treatment.
08:14This tech can help all humans open up a huge potential if we link up the human brain to
08:19a computer or AI system.
08:22That's it for today!
08:23So hey, if you pacified your curiosity, then give the video a like and share it with your
08:28friends.
08:29Or if you want more, just click on these videos and stay on the Bright Side!
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