A rare group called the Bajau, often referred to as \u201cSea Nomads,\u201d has lived on Southeast Asia\u2019s coastal waters for nearly 1,000 years. They build homes on stilts over the ocean and spend most of their time diving and fishing. \u201cIt\u2019s like a biological scuba tank,\u201d said Melissa Ilardo, lead researcher from the University of Copenhagen, about their unique adaptation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The Bajau practice traditional free-diving daily, often spending up to eight hours underwater and reaching depths of more than 70 meters. They use weighted belts and wooden goggles, and their dives can last from 30 seconds to several minutes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Over time, this demanding lifestyle triggered what scientists call the human diving response\u2014a process that slows the heart, limits blood flow, and squeezes the spleen to release oxygen-rich red blood cells.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Research revealed that the Bajau have spleens about 50% larger than neighboring populations. This gives them a natural oxygen reserve while diving. \u201cThe spleen contracts and releases oxygen-rich red blood cells into circulation,\u201d explained National Geographic<\/em>. This physical adaptation may have developed over generations to improve underwater endurance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Scientists also found that a gene called PDE10A<\/em>, which affects spleen size, is more common in the Bajau. \u201cPDE10A stood out,\u201d said Prof. Rasmus Nielsen from UC Berkeley. This finding mirrors other high-adaptation communities, like Tibetans living at high altitudes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Sea Nomads of Southeast Asia A rare group called the Bajau, often referred to as \u201cSea Nomads,\u201d has lived on Southeast Asia\u2019s coastal waters for nearly 1,000 years. They build homes on stilts over the ocean and spend most of their time diving and fishing. \u201cIt\u2019s like a biological scuba tank,\u201d said Melissa Ilardo, lead…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":1824,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1823","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/horizonvibe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/horizonvibe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/horizonvibe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horizonvibe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horizonvibe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1823"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/horizonvibe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1825,"href":"https:\/\/horizonvibe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1823\/revisions\/1825"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horizonvibe.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1824"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/horizonvibe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horizonvibe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/horizonvibe.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Genetic Evolution and Future Threats<\/h3>\n\n\n\n