A 3D printed set of ‘gills’ could let humans live under water.
The system uses a specially designed material to replenish oxygen from the surrounding water, and release carbon dioxide.
Inspired by the gills of a fish, its creator hopes the design could help mankind cope with rising sea levels and spent more time underwater.
It was designed by designer and material scientist Jun Kamei at the Royal College of Art, in collaboration with the RCA-IIS Tokyo Design Lab.
He says it is ‘designed for a future where humankind lives in very close proximity with water.
‘It provides daily comfort to people who spend as much time in the water as on the land, Kamei said.
‘The technology was inspired from water diving insects which survive underwater by virtue of a thin layer of air trapped on their superhydrophobic skin surface, working as a gas exchanging gill,’
Kamei says he is planning to test AMPHIBIO to support underwater breathing at human scale, where a gill with at least 32 m2 would be required to support our oxygen consumption in water.
He believes the invention in somewhere between free diving and scuba diving equipment.
‘In a near future, it could allow the wearer to stay underwater longer than in free diving, but with less equipment than in scuba diving,’ he said.
By 2100, a temperature rise of 3.2℃ is predicted to happen, causing a sea level rise affecting more that 30% of the global population and submerging the megacities situated in the coastal areas.
Source: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/