Hi Friends,
Water is life. That's a cliché that seems to be used quite as many times as the word water itself is used. But then, in a more literal sense, that's not exactly true - water is not life, it kills. So you disagree. Well, I understand. But have you ever tried to duck your head into a swimming pool or the beautiful ocean without any such device for as long as 10 minutes , 20, 30.... I can't even go ahead to say 40 be by then, because by 30, a person who tries this would already have become a bag of lead in the water. Ok, no hard feelings against water because I need it way too much to cast a language spell on it, so I will just get on to talking what I have 'brought' you here for.

Wikimedia by Summerandbeach CC BY SA 4.0

Being able to breathe under water is a big deal, so there have been many gadgets that have been invented of sorts to make our necessary and 'unnecessary' cohabitation under water possible. But these gadgets have been big and burdensome. Imagine being under water and carrying one of those artificial equipments that fold around your mouth and then you try to suck on some oxygen; it's good, but it makes it near impossible to enjoy water like it should be enjoyed. Breathing with those heavy devices, one tends to miss out on the fun part of being in the water in the first place because the focus turns to surviving more than anything else. Not many people want to simply breathe under water, they want to live.

So scientists are discussing and discovering new ways of making it possible to breathe under water without it being burdened by the irresistible call to death. By new ways, I mean smaller ways of breathing. I will be elucidating on the lighter equipment including the artificial gills that have been imagined and invented ever since it came to the knowledge of man that being under water could be really much fun when one was really a fish.

Triton Gills

Before anything else, I must say that it's funny how people expend a lot of money on buying their imaginations and seeing it become reality. Some scientific campaign about what was called the **future of underwater breathing". According to the campaign organizers, this future which came in the shape of a simple device that could allow anybody breathe under water. They called it the Triton Gills. The device was designed and invented by a Korean student in some unnamed in college. Realizing how expensive and cumbersome a full scuba equipment is, many people have subscribed to Triton and even bet their money on it.

Wikimedia by Chris 73 CC BY SA 3.0

However, scientists and marine experts have had reasons to believe that the small gadget does not work. Although they are willing to believe with every other person, they couldn't see the logic behind the whole device. While the inventors of the device claimed that with it, a person could go on for 45 minutes in the water, a certain marine biologist named Alistair Dove said it didn't look like it could sustain one in water for even one minute. This is because for the gadget to do so, it would have to filter through 24 gallons of water, and for humans, Triton couldn't so much as generate enough to do this.

Neal Pollock, another researcher who dealt with looking for safe ways to protect divers' lives, said although the project sounded good in truth, he didn't think it could hold water practically. According to him, although the concept sounds good and exciting, he wouldn't encourage anyone pulling out a wallet because of it. The logic of Triton was something that could do far so good work in any of the science fiction movies that have people glued to their seats.

Triton seemed to have garnered the trust of people through its plain logic. According to the inventors, the small gadget will filter water through tiny holes in "gills" that extract oxygen from the water. After the oxygen had been filtered out, a tiny battery-powered "micro compressor" then stores the oxygen in a miniature storage tank, from which a swimmer breathes in a normal capacity. Pollock said for this to be possible, three things have to be perfected: the ability to efficiently filter and extract that much oxygen in a short while; the need for a water pump and a storage facility to store the oxygen (the simple technology of Triton clearly lacks this) and then the battery system of the machine must be strong and reliable enough to help keep the equipment working and stable from all the pressure of the water.

Even if all these were in place, it just did not seem responsible to physiologically trust one's life to an equipment like Triton. So while many might have invested their money into the project, the experts can't bet on dime on it.

Ouch!

Wikimedia by Green Design CC BY SA 4.0

Amphibio

Underwater liberation is typically embodied in this technology designed by Japanese scientist Jun Kamei. Amphibio is a 3d printed artificial gill that was inspired by the current high rise in sea level. The designer thought to provide solution to what was a problem in waiting and this inspired the artificial lightweight vest and mask. Jun Kamei in wondering about the future of urban environments in the face of constant global warming turned to water diving insects tat trap air bubbles in their bodies to be able to breathe under water.

The artificial 3d printed gill in the manner of the water diving insects extracts oxygen from the water and releases carbon dioxide into it. The whole idea was having a wearable gill that could enable us be amphibians. As at now, the artificial gill is still being tested, and is only a prototype that is tested in aquariums. The major reason why it can't be used on humans is that humans consume much oxygen and to make them able to utilize the technology, a vest with holes of about 32 square meters need to be done.

Unlike Triton, most people are actually confident that Amphibio is the future of the world under water. While we wait to see what would come out of Amphibio, I would say you still should hold your horses and your breaths too.

References
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/design/2018/08/14/amphibio-underwater-breathing-style-orig.cnn
https://www.businessinsider.com/can-triton-device-indiegogo-pull-oxygen-water-2016-3?IR=T