Rhiannon Ingle
One man has taken it upon himself to live underwater for over three months to see what kind of affect it will have on his body.
The University of South Florida professor began his bizarre experiment earlier this month (1 March) as he straps himself in for 100 days underwater for this first-of-its-kind biology study.
Joe Dituri, also known by his handle as Dr Deep Sea, has made it his mission to make the sea his 'habitat' all the way through to summer. Check it out:
In an official press release from the University Of South Florida, it's been confirmed that Dituri - who also holds a Biomedical Engineering Ph.D. - is conducting the experiment in a hopes to search for new 'ways to revive marine environments'.
Alongside this, the researcher also seeks to 'test medical technology that could prevent a myriad of diseases in people'.
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"But," the release explains, "there’s one catch: he’s doing it all 30 feet underwater — and he's trying to do it for 100 days."
At the start of the month (1 March), retired U.S. Navy Commander turned professor swam into his new 100-square foot habitat approximately 'two-thousandths of a league under the sea' at Jules’ Undersea Lodge in Key Largo.
The professor is set to live in 'isolation' for the entire duration of the mission which has since been titled 'Neptune 100'.
Quite fitting indeed.
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The release explains: "Part of the work will see a psychologist and a psychiatrist monitor the effects he experiences while in an environment similar to extended space travel.
"It's an isolating confined extreme environment. And and as humans, we really need to figure out how we're going to be living in that (environment) if we're going to expand our planet, if we're going to go interplanetary, if we're going to find all the cures that we need to find."
If Dituri manages to complete Neptune 100, then he will hold the world record for 'the longest time living underwater in ambient pressure - 1.6 times the pressure felt on land'.
The current world record stands at 73 days from way back when in 2014 when two professors from Tennessee accomplished it the title.
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"But he said that's not the important part," the release claims.
Dr Deep Sea himself revealed: "Everything we need is on this planet.
"Everything we need is here, we have the yin, we have the yang. We have the disease, we have the cure. We just need to look where we've never looked before."
Neptune 100 is scheduled to come to an end later this summer (9 June) and, until then, Dituri will 'work on outreach with other scientists, as well as children, and conduct marine and medical research'.
The professor has been documenting his journey on social media and announced the news in an Instagram video.
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"Guess what guys" he began, "we are gonna science the s*** out of this.
"We’re going to be talking about biomedical engineering, doing experiments in biology and biomedical engineering, we’re going to be talking to the who’s who of the undersea realm, and we’re gonna be having a good time!" the professor enthused.
Speaking in another statement published by the University of South Florda, Dr Deep Sea pointed out: "The human body has never been underwater that long, so I will be monitored closely.
"This study will examine every way this journey impacts my body, but my null hypothesis is that there will be improvements to my health due to the increased pressure."
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Dituri concluded: "So, we suspect I am going to come out super-human!"
I guess time will tell when mission Neptune 100 comes to an end in June with 16 days down and a whole 84 more to go.
Best of luck to this nutty professor!