Letters from the December 24 & 31, 2005, issue of Science News
By Science News
Bends, the truth
I very much enjoyed “Cool Birds” (SN: 10/22/05, p. 266). What struck me, however, was a passage that mentioned the “bird’s resistance to the bends” and the researchers’ alleged inability to explain that. As a scuba diver, I know that the bends, or decompression sickness, is caused by breathing compressed air underwater. More nitrogen is absorbed in body tissue per breath taken, which can cause expanding bubbles when surfacing too quickly. The bends does not occur when free diving: holding your breath and not breathing compressed air underwater. I do not believe penguins breathe underwater and am therefore confused why they’d be expected to suffer from the bends in the first place.