Pressure Tolerance

Databank Text

At 100 meters below the surface, the pressure on your body is over ten times what it is on land—like an elephant standing on every square inch of you. Humans must breathe air under equal pressure or the lungs cannot inflate, but this carries severe risks:

—Below 40m, the nitrogen in air becomes narcotic, causing impaired judgment, delirium, and anesthesia

—As pressure increases, oxygen becomes toxic, causing tunnel vision, tinnitus, vertigo, and convulsions

Each additional 10m of depth increases the pressure by 1 atmosphere. Breathing normal air at 600 meters and 60 atm of pressure is fatal. The extreme pressures force gas molecules into the body’s tissues, saturating them like a soda and disrupting their necessary function.

Deep-sea organisms produce a molecule called TMAO (trimethylamine n-oxide). TMAO is a stiffener for water molecules, helping them hold their shape against pressure. Adapting your body to produce this stiffener will reduce the rate of gas saturation, allowing your pioneer nanomachines to clean up the fatal fizz as fast as it develops.This adaptation may result in long term liver damage, but the consequences fall beyond your current survival horizon.

This adaptation will also prevent trimethylaminuria, a condition in which a seafood diet can lead to a powerful fishy body odor.