Free diver talks on the draw of the deep

FRIDAY, SEP. 28: When diving unaided to great depths, the human body can adapt similarly to those of sea mammals.

While new scientific proof of this has only just surfaced, it is something that free diving record holder and conservationist Hanli Prinsloo has long understood.

Prinsloo has been free diving for 13 years — she is 11 times South African free diving record holder and is ranked among the top ten females free divers in the world.

She has pushed her body to the absolute limits and says it is refreshing to read solid evidence about what she has felt for a long time.

She will be talking about the new  research as well as some of her deep sea adventures for her talk at the upcoming TEDx conference at the Fairmont Southampton Resort on October 13.

Hanli told the Bermuda Sun: ‘”I am still exploring what my body can do in water. This new research is like something you know, and then you are given the words to understand what you know. It’s really exciting to have experienced it and now see it proven and written down.”

Prinsloo has been working with a Swedish researcher who has done the fascinating research on how the mammalian dive response is prevalent in humans as it is in other diving mammals such as seals, whales and dolphins.

“We have the same adaptations that seals have in their bodies for deep diving and they obviously spend more time in the water so this is phenomenal that we have it,” she said.

“There is a whole lot of adaptations that happen from the slowing down of heart rate to redirection of blood flow. I will share research into the mammalian dive response and how it has enabled me to live the life I live with ocean exploration and diving with big creatures in the sea.”

The new research looks at different groups of people who have spent lots of time underwater such as the Ama Divers in Japan and also research on competitive free divers.

One of the highlights of Prinsloo’s free diving career was diving with sperm whales in Sri Lanka.

“Their bodies are phenomenally adapted for deep diving and they are also incredibly intuitive creatures,” she said. “I’ve had experiences with them that have completely blown my mind both on a physical level and on a spiritual and emotional level.”

Prinsloo said she hoped to dive in Bermuda, especially with the tiger sharks that are in our waters.

Another TEDx speaker, Sassino Haile, will be talking about her vision of a carbon neutral future and will present her solution. Haile, the Carl F. Braun Professor of Materials Science, and Chemical Engineering at California Institute of Technology, has spent the past four years researching how to convert harmful carbon dioxide (C02) into fuel. She has already demonstrated the technology and is working on making it a commercially viable alternative to petroleum and other forms.

“The objective is to take carbon dioxide, which is a molecule that has got carbon and two oxygens on it, and stripping the oxygen away. Once you take the oxygen away then it has energy content. The process of reacting with oxygen, which is simply the process of burning, is what gives you fuel so if you undo it then it is essentially reverse combustion — so you are undoing the combustion step and that gives you a fuel.

“You need energy input to do that and we will use solar energy.”

Haile has support from the US Department of Energy through a programme that takes energy efficient innovations and gets them into the market place more quickly than by the traditional funding support.