Aquaman Crystal -- once again, the media jumps the gun

[WeRtheOcean]

When I saw the story come up on social media -- "Danish scientists invent a crystal that lets divers breathe underwater" -- I was intrigued. But following it up on Snopes, it turns out the media stories hyped the discovery, as usual. It is true that the scientists invented the crystal that absorbs oxygen from its surroundings; but applying it to breathing technology is still a long way away. Here is that Snopes article: Aquaman Crystal Makes It Possible to Breathe Underwater?

 

[Deborah Johnson]

I read about this last year sometime. It would really be nice to lose the weight of thescuba tanks.

 

[EricTheDood]

This is the type of crap I used to buy into, reading Pop Sci in middle school.

The reality of engineering and technology is that the low hanging fruit has all been picked. Technological progress these days is incremental, not revolutionary.

The "aquaman crystal", even if it were effective, could have an effect on the O2 tank of a rebreather, but everything else would remain the same. How is that helpful?

 

[Deborah Johnson]

I agree, but it would be great for depths less than 20 feet.