Sebastien Murat Freediving Evolution

Sebastien Murat Freediving Evolution
Way of the deep end: Seb (Subs) Murat heads for a +700 ft deep record freedive to put human biomimetic hibernation technology in the limelight


SYDNEY, Australia - Séb `Subs´ Murat, 43, renowned deep-sea freediving pioneer and maverick, has set his sights towards the unfathomable target depth of +700ft. The dives are planned for Bali, Indonesia this 2012; a date has yet to be set. As previously demonstrated in Discovery Channel’s One Step Beyond: Super Diver and the ABC´s Catalyst: Human Sub, the Sub is unique as a diver in that he employs a protective dive strategy modeled on animal divers. This strategy permits him to undertake extremely deep dives all the while minimizing common life-threatening risks associated, such as shallow-water black-out, decompression illness, and narcosis. Like seals, he is able to circumvent these problems by paradoxically diving on `empty´ rather than full lungs. Scientific studies recently demonstrated that despite sacrificing most of his lung oxygen stores he could off-set this shortfall by down-regulating his metabolic rate to very low levels. Besides dramatically slowing his heart rate down and preferentially redistributing his blood oxygen stores to more vital organs, it was shown he could do actively cool his brain down by several degrees. This ability to slow his biological-clock allows him to conserve vital oxygen stores and tolerate a greater degree of oxygen deprivation than normal. The dives are being undertaken to bring attention to a new and ground-breaking biomimetic technology which, like in hibernating bears and diving seals, has the capability to induce an altered and depressed metabolic state. Specifically, the technology has far-reaching medical implications as it has the potential to treat a broad variety of major life-threatening conditions, such as, for example, stroke, cardiac arrest, seizures, brain and spinal trauma. The technology is being heralded as a potent way to control obesity since like in hibernating animals there is a shift from a reliance on predominantly carbohydrate to fat stores usage. The discovery has significant sports and fitness ramifications since it’s been found to significantly enhance sports endurance performance, including breath-holding ability, by pre-cooling the central nervous system, i.e., before heat-induced fatigue inevitably terminates exercise. The discovery will be released in time of the record attempt.

A limited number of corporate (platinum, gold, and silver) support programs are now on offer for freediving aficionados wishing to be part of the action.

From: DeeperBlue forum