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If you dig good science fiction movies you’re not only my friend already but also must keep reading. And if you don’t, you’ll be amazed with the info you’re about to learn and perhaps choose a sci-fi next time you are at the box office.

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There is one simple thing humans need to consume more often and plentifully than food or even water. That's oxygen. We obtain it in the form of gas contained in the air we breathe. Since the 1941 debut of Aquaman to the science fiction classic The Abyss to Interstellar, movies show intrepid characters breathing liquid under adventurous situations.

Can lungs absorb oxygen from liquid for real?

Although gasses and liquids have one thing in common (they both flow), other physical properties are different. Gasses generally dissipate or diffuse quicker than liquids, which tend to have viscosity and stronger chemical bonds at the molecular level. This is critical in human respiration. After breathing in, our inflated lungs provide the blood with the vital gas thanks to the minuscule thickness of their walls. Molecules with more complex structure could not permeate the walls of the alvioli in the lungs to enter the blood stream.

Breathing amniotic fluid via the lungs, for example, doesn’t work. Babies get oxygen from the blood mom supplies through the umbilical cord. Amniotic fluid fills the lungs until they’re fully developed and ready to breathe air. While it contains oxygen, placenta juice wouldn’t provide enough supply to an adult, especially when under intense physical or mental stress.

Movies might not be so far from reality

Around half a century ago, scientists started to experiment with perfluorohexane in mice. The liquid supplied oxygen efficiently but didn’t work as well picking up carbon dioxide from the system, so the mice couldn’t sustain life for long periods of time. Researchers continue experimenting with more suitable gasses now days.Perfluocarbons are proven to be very effective moving both gasses in and out of the system. Possible uses may include patients with severe breathing impairments, diving, or space traveling.

The benefits of Total Liquid Ventilation (TLV), however, are far from being available for these uses because it has significant cons. Liquids don’t respond to pressure the same way gasses do. They are harder to compress. So, moving fluid in and out of the lungs requires way more effort than breathing air. The benefits may be eclipsed by the energy investment.

Like air ventilation, TLV requires ventilation equipment, but the needed machines are much more complex. They have to warm the liquid before pumping it to the lungs plus maintaining the right composition. This will make the procedure difficult to extend in clinical settings.

Scientists continue experimenting on animals for now. The day humans can breathe liquid normally could be close though. It’s a matter of developing more effective technologies or maybe creating a better liquid compound. In the meantime, just keep breathing the way you always have.