4 ms·

I guess this is kinda cool, but you have to look past the headline. 18 minutes without oxygen isn't far-fetched for humans. The Guinness world record for "long

I guess this is kinda cool, but you have to look past the headline. 18 minutes without oxygen isn't far-fetched for humans. The Guinness world record for "longest time breath held voluntarily (male)" is a bit over 24 minutes. So, yeah, that line in the article that says "no warm-blooded mammal can...come close to the naked mole-rat’s 18-minute record" seems to be painfully and stupidly wrong. The interesting part is not that they survive for 18 minutes. The interesting part is that they do fine at 5% oxygen and that seemingly they (almost?) hold their breaths involuntarily after they pass out at lower levels.

e12e 10y ago
Not to mention Dolphins, seals and great whales?
- pvaldes 10y ago
  yup, Sperm whales can hold their breath for 90 minutes they divert voluntarily all the blood to focus in the most important organs only.
eutectic 10y ago
Perhaps the article meant it was impressive for their body size.
- rullelito 10y ago
  Why is this more impressive at smaller scale?
  - eutectic 10y ago
    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleiber%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleiber%27s_law
  - FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
    Put simply, smallers organisms run hotter...have a higher metabolic rate. If you've ever felt the heartbrat of a cat, chicken, or hamster youll notice that it is significantly higher than your own, thus they require more oxygen relative to their size. Interestingly, the article points out that they become someone anaerobic metabolizing fructose, which doesnt require O2, throughout the body as a source of energy instead of glucose Many people assume metabolism is proportional to surface area based on the argument above. This idea was first proposed by Max Rubner in 1883. In the 1930’s, Max Kleiber proposed that metabolism increases according to body mass raised to the power 3/4. If metabolism were proportional to volume, the exponent would be 1. If it were proportional to surface area, the exponent would be 2/3. But Kleiber’s law says it’s somewhere in between, namely 3/4. Its not clear which, if either, theory is correct. But both agree t
dekhn 10y ago
for the humans, they hyperventilated to supersaturate their blood with oxygen. the mole rat was without such prep.
- eric_h 10y ago
  I was under the impression that hyperventilating is more about the reduction of CO2 in the lungs, rather than saturating the blood with oxygen. It's basically to fool your body into thinking you've got enough oxygen (since it's C02 buildup in the lungs that triggers the out of air signal to the brain, not the lack of oxygen). Hence why hyperventilating for, say, free diving can cause one to black out without triggering the suffocation reflex as one returns to the surface of the water.

e12e 10y ago

Not to mention Dolphins, seals and great whales?

pvaldes 10y ago
yup, Sperm whales can hold their breath for 90 minutes they divert voluntarily all the blood to focus in the most important organs only.

eutectic 10y ago

Perhaps the article meant it was impressive for their body size.

rullelito 10y ago
Why is this more impressive at smaller scale?
- eutectic 10y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleiber%27s_law https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kleiber%27s_law
- FullMtlAlcoholc 10y ago
  Put simply, smallers organisms run hotter...have a higher metabolic rate. If you've ever felt the heartbrat of a cat, chicken, or hamster youll notice that it is significantly higher than your own, thus they require more oxygen relative to their size. Interestingly, the article points out that they become someone anaerobic metabolizing fructose, which doesnt require O2, throughout the body as a source of energy instead of glucose Many people assume metabolism is proportional to surface area based on the argument above. This idea was first proposed by Max Rubner in 1883. In the 1930’s, Max Kleiber proposed that metabolism increases according to body mass raised to the power 3/4. If metabolism were proportional to volume, the exponent would be 1. If it were proportional to surface area, the exponent would be 2/3. But Kleiber’s law says it’s somewhere in between, namely 3/4. Its not clear which, if either, theory is correct. But both agree t

dekhn 10y ago

for the humans, they hyperventilated to supersaturate their blood with oxygen. the mole rat was without such prep.

eric_h 10y ago
I was under the impression that hyperventilating is more about the reduction of CO2 in the lungs, rather than saturating the blood with oxygen. It's basically to fool your body into thinking you've got enough oxygen (since it's C02 buildup in the lungs that triggers the out of air signal to the brain, not the lack of oxygen). Hence why hyperventilating for, say, free diving can cause one to black out without triggering the suffocation reflex as one returns to the surface of the water.