Audio Signals Podcast

Living Undersea for 100 Days and The Power of Storytelling in Science Education | A Conversation with Dr. Joseph Dituri | Audio Signals Podcast With Marco Ciappelli

Episode Summary

Join us on the Audio Signals Podcast as we dive into an enthralling conversation with Dr. Joseph Dituri, exploring his remarkable 100-day undersea journey and the untold stories of the deep.

Episode Notes

Guest: Dr. Joseph Dituri, Clinical Researcher, U. S. Navy Saturation Diving Officer (Ret), World Record Holder (Living underwater)

On Linkedin | https://www.linkedin.com/in/joseph-dituri-ph-d-5099789/

On Twitter | https://twitter.com/drdeepsea?lang=en

On Instagram | https://www.instagram.com/drdeepsea/

Website | https://drdeepsea.com/

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Host:  Marco Ciappelli, Co-Founder at ITSPmagazine [@ITSPmagazine] and Host of Redefining Society Podcast & Audio Signals Podcast

On ITSPmagazine | https://www.itspmagazine.com/itspmagazine-podcast-radio-hosts/marco-ciappelli
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Episode Introduction

Hello, listeners and readers! Welcome back to the Audio Signals Podcast, where we explore the intersection of technology, storytelling, and the human spirit. I'm your host, Marco Ciappelli, and today we embark on an extraordinary journey beneath the waves with our special guest, Dr. Joseph Dituri.

In this episode, "Living Undersea for 100 Days with Dr. Joseph Dituri," we dive deep into a narrative that merges the frontiers of science and the art of storytelling. As you've journeyed with us through our previous episodes, you know we're passionate about not just the stories themselves but the storytellers who bring them to life. Today's story is about pushing boundaries, exploring the unknown, and the profound implications of such endeavors on society and our collective future.

Dr. Dituri, a retired United States Navy diver and special operations officer, shares his incredible experience of living underwater for a full 100 days. This feat isn't just about endurance or adventure; it's a testament to human curiosity and our relentless pursuit of knowledge. After retiring from a distinguished military career, Dr. Dituri turned his focus to biomedical engineering, specifically addressing the challenges of traumatic brain injuries in service members. His undersea mission, however, goes beyond medical research. It's a clarion call to explore our oceans, understand their mysteries, and recognize their critical role in our planet's health.

As we navigate through Dr. Dituri's journey, we uncover the stark contrasts in funding and attention between space exploration and oceanic research. Despite oceans covering 70% of our planet and being vital to our survival, they remain largely unexplored and undervalued. Dr. Dituri's endeavor under the waves is a stark reminder of the untapped potential lying in the depths of our oceans – potential that could hold the keys to solving some of humanity's most pressing challenges.

During his time underwater, Dr. Dituri engaged with over 5,000 students across 15 countries, not just sharing his knowledge but igniting a spark of curiosity and wonder in the next generation. His experiences highlight the importance of storytelling in science, making complex concepts accessible and exciting, and inspiring future explorers and scientists.

Join us in this captivating episode as we unravel the stories of the deep, the significance of undersea exploration, and how Dr. Dituri's journey is shaping the narrative around oceanic research and its critical role in our world. This is more than just a tale of adventure; it's a story about our relationship with the vast, mysterious world beneath the waves and how understanding it better can change our future.


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Resources

Mission complete: USF’s Dr. Deep Sea resurfaces after living underwater for 100 days, setting new world record: https://www.usf.edu/news/2023/mission-complete-usfs-dr-deep-sea-resurfaces-after-living-underwater-for-100-days-setting-new-world-record.aspx

Florida scientist resurfaces after living underwater for record 100 days: https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/florida-scientist-resurfaces-after-living-underwater-for-record-100-days

How (and why) this man plans to live underwater for 100 days:  https://www.npr.org/2023/03/07/1161325332/joseph-dituri-science-dr-deep-sea-underwater-marine

Meet 'Dr. Deep Sea,' the scientist who broke the record for the longest time living underwater: https://www.livescience.com/planet-earth/rivers-oceans/meet-dr-deep-sea-the-scientist-who-broke-the-record-for-the-longest-time-living-underwater

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Episode Transcription

Please note that this transcript was created using AI technology and may contain inaccuracies or deviations from the original audio file. The transcript is provided for informational purposes only and should not be relied upon as a substitute for the original recording, as errors may exist. At this time, we provide it “as it is,” and we hope it can be helpful for our audience.

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Living Undersea for 100 Days with Dr. Joseph Dituri 
 

[00:00:00] Marco Ciappelli: Hello, everybody. This is Audio Signal Podcast. As you know, in the last few episodes, I've been repositioning the antennas to capture even more story, and not only to focus on the stories, but on the storytellers. And in a way, I like to think we're all made of stories. Even when you go outside at the grocery store, maybe you're telling a story about yourself, the way you dress, the way you interact with people. 
 

So we we're made of that from the time that we were sitting around the fire, uh, to then, uh, the invention of the press, the radio, and then now the tv, the internet and all of that. There are people that tells really good story. And my guest today, uh, I had the honor to interact with him through the mentor project. 
 

He did a fantastic presentation at Boy Does, he has. Stories to tell. I'm excited for the people watching. Uh, Dr. Joseph Duturi is here with me and for the people listening. Here it is. Joseph, welcome to the show. I'm very excited about this.  
 

[00:01:03] Dr. Joseph Dituri: Hey, thanks for having me. Uh, great, uh, great time. I guess by way of a little bit of an introduction I can give you I guess a little bit of a Feedback on me. 
 

I spent 28 years in the United States Navy as a diver and special operations officer, and when I retired from that, I retired out of special operations command here in Tampa. Stayed in the same spot, but I wanted to do something different. Uh, aside for going back to work for Uncle Sam. So I decided to go get a PhD in Biomedical Engineering, and now what we're doing is we're fixing brains. 
 

So the traumatic brain injury that the service member gets, I'm now helping to go ahead and fix that. So that's kind of what we're doing right now. And, uh, and like I said, we did that 100 days underwater to, uh, to basically do exactly what Special Operations Forces does, which is win the hearts and minds. 
 

So we're trying to capture the world. into understanding what we want to talk about.  
 

[00:01:59] Marco Ciappelli: Yeah. And that's just a short version of your bio, I guess, because, uh, if you go to your website, drdipsy. com, you can see you're involved in speaking, you wrote a book, you're in education and teaching STEM and getting people excited about the, what's down there in the ocean. 
 

And actually what struck me a lot about the presentation you did was the, was the end of it. When you talked about you want to go in space after you've been, you know, in the ocean and you explained that exactly the reason why the resources that we have down in the ocean and how uneven in a way the budget for doing that exploration is. 
 

So, I don't know, we can start from that, but this is about storytelling. So we definitely want to know about the 100 days.  
 

[00:02:47] Dr. Joseph Dituri: Yeah. So, uh, well, let's start with where we. Spend our money. Basically, a huge portion of the budget goes towards space. 200, 300, 400 billion goes towards space, space exploration. If we spent a tenth of that money looking in, let's agree. 
 

Our world is covered with water, 70 percent give or take. Now, the oxygen in the world, 60 70 percent of it comes from that ocean. There's a little tiny microscopic organism known as proflorococcus that basically does the same thing as trees do on land, proflorococcus does it underwater or on the water. 
 

And we produce a large portion of the world's ocean. The world's oxygen from the world's oceans. So maybe we should start thinking about taking care of it. Now I'm not a. You know, I'm not trying to engender change, except that I want people to understand. And if you understand, I'm not complaining that the space people get more money. 
 

I'm just saying we should program more money towards research in the ocean. Last time we truly did research in the ocean, truly. The Navy did it in the, uh, late 60s, early 70s, uh, for C Lab. So it's coming on 60 years when we were doing C Lab. One was about, uh, just a little under 60 years ago. Uh, so, you know, we're talking a long time ago that we haven't done a lot of research. 
 

So it's time to go back. That's all I'm saying.  
 

[00:04:29] Marco Ciappelli: Yeah, for sure. And how do we tell these stories and how are you telling this story to the new generation? I I saw Pictures and you can see that on the website as well of while you were sitting in this tank Underwater you were busy. You're not just sitting there You know waiting and watching the fish go by although I you told that you did that too but you had Kids coming and visiting schools. 
 

You were doing webcasts and podcasts the whole time. I mean, you, you're doing a lot to tell exactly what you said. There is a ton that we don't know about the ocean and, uh, and, and the resources about finding a cure for disease and, and all of that, that, you know, we look up and it's great. I mean, I. I talked to astronauts on the show and I'm, I'm crazy about that stuff, but I also remember as a kid, au, you know, a kid of the seventies and, and all these adventures in, in discovering the ocean. 
 

We, we didn't talk about that anymore. You're right.  
 

[00:05:35] Dr. Joseph Dituri: Well, you know, what happened was, you know, Cousteau was great, but Cousteau was, basically a loose cannon, right? . He was going off. And if you've ever seen Steve ssa. It's a perfect understanding of the money problem that he had. Cousteau was always going out, always trying to tell a story, come back, get more money so that he could do more exploration. 
 

You didn't see the astronauts going out and stepping and trying to raise money and doing film festivals and things like that. You didn't see any of our astronauts doing that. They were well funded. However, the aquanauts were out here begging on the corner, Hey, you got a dollar, we'll, we'll dive for a dollar, you know, and it's just horrible. 
 

Uh, but it shows, you know, when we don't look into that portion of the world, then we have problems with that portion of the world, right? I mean. The oceans are, uh, obviously heating up. It's obvious. I mean, I don't care where you sit on the climate, uh, you know, climate change model, the ocean temperature is rising. 
 

It's calculated, right? It is rising now, whether or not that's from the mantle itself and the core is leaking into the mantle and you know, we're, we're heating up from there or whether it's global warming, I I'm not here to determine that, but I am here to tell you that. Those temperatures are rising and I'm not sure that we can do anything about it, but we should always try. 
 

[00:06:55] Marco Ciappelli: So yeah, so tell me about how you decided to to say, you know, if I spent 100 days under the water, um, I'm gonna capture some news. I mean, you're pretty much you want the story to be heard.  
 

[00:07:10] Dr. Joseph Dituri: Yeah. Never thought I would capture any news. I figured I'd get some local, uh, local insight and it would be good. 
 

But honestly, as I sat in the wings, because when you do, when you are waiting to get on a TV or a news show, they put you in the wings and you get to actually watch the news, which is something I never actually do. I'm watching the news and it's like, well, there's a truck, a trailer truck, a jackknifed up on the I 95. 
 

Two police officers were shot. This person. And you're just like bad news, bad news, bad news, bad news. Oh. And then coming up next, we meet a doctor who's living underwater. And I'm like, no wonder why. I was the only good news thing on TV. So no wonder why it blew up the way that it did. Right. So here's the way that it started. 
 

So it goes back to 2012. I'm retiring from the Navy and I get a call from James Cameron's people. They say, Hey, listen, um, Jim wants you to come out to the house. I'm like, Jim, who? Like, Ja. James, James Cameron. You know the filmmaker? I'm like, yeah, whatever. Sure, yeah, sure. Send me a ticket. Like, who believes that? 
 

Right? I figured it is one of my buddies putting me up to it. Now remember, I'm a submersible expert from the US Navy. I retired. I'm a submersible guy. I got a call and he wants me to come out and look at his submersible. So I get out there and before you know it, walking his dog on the beach, talking the whole story, working the whole thing, you know, in his garage at his house in California, you know, so like evaluating and looking at his submersible and the intrinsic value and the extrinsic value and everything that came from his life and time. 
 

When he did that 35, 000 foot dive, it turns out he goes to the bottom of the Mariana Trench and he finds a sea lice. Now sea lice for us in Florida, they're teeny tiny, and they'll kind of like bite you and it'll be like a bee sting. Not a big deal. At 35, 000 feet, they're this big. Well, that's pretty big. 
 

So when they, he captured it, he didn't even know what he was capturing. He captured it. We pull a DNA sample from it. I'm going to save the great gory science detail, but it turns out it's a partial cure for Alzheimer's. Wait. Let me say that again a different way. It's a partial cure for a disease that afflicts humanity was existing 35, 000 feet below the surface of the ocean. 
 

We never knew it was there because we never looked. How long has it been there? Maybe since the beginning of Alzheimer's disease, maybe before Alzheimer's disease, disease, the cure existed, right? So I sit back and it's December 24th I'm at my desk and put my arms behind my head and I put my legs up on the table and I'm like, we have to live in the ocean. 
 

And all my friends are like, and I'm like, no, no, no. Everything we need is here on this planet. We have the gang. We have the gang. We have the dark. We have the light. We have the disease. We have the cure. 
 

And then I go, we have to live underwater. And everybody's like, Oh, he's lost it. He's absolutely nuts. Yep. No, gone. Yeah. So long story short, I start pushing in that direction. That was 2012 December. So by October of 2019, we're ready to rock and roll. We do the preliminary, uh, you know, experiments for it. 
 

Five days underwater, five people, five days. That place is entirely too small for five people. That place is entirely too small to spend five days with five people. Uh, so that was kind of tight, but long story short, uh, COVID hit and then we kind of got pushed back to 2013, uh, 2023, and I wound up being the only one that could commit the financial requirement for it. 
 

So I did. Because I think it's valuable. So I personally threw my own money into this five figures into needing to be down there for a hundred days. And I still didn't have enough money to do it all. So the Marine Resources Developmental Foundation ponied up the rest of the money and said, well, we'll let you work, but what we're going to do is we're going to fill the other side with visiting scientists and kids. 
 

And, and I said, well, that's perfect. Cause it's exactly what I want to do anyway. Ta da! Now we're staying underwater for a hundred days.  
 

[00:11:27] Marco Ciappelli: That's cool. So I'm, I'm reading a note here that you engaged during that time with more than 5, 000 students from 15 different countries. And you work with a lot of medical doctors to see what happened to you, your body, the human body living there. 
 

And actually, it wasn't like coming back from space where you have like less bone mass, you have like a lot of issues. And you actually improved, if I remember well, from the story you told us. A lot of your datas, right? 
 

[00:11:58] Dr. Joseph Dituri: Yeah, most things improved. However, a couple of things didn't. Astronauts are in tension. 
 

So they are constantly basically stretching apart. We aquanauts are in compression. So I lost about three quarters of an inch. I like to tell everybody the bad stuff because nobody remembers until you emphasize the bad stuff. Because there are a couple of bad things. I was myopic for about a week, maybe 10 days afterwards. 
 

So basically that means I was nearsighted because my vision is pretty poor when you're looking long distances. Underwater you can always see a max of 17, 16 feet. So I became myopic to the point where I could see 16 or 17 feet. Your eyes are very compensatory or they compensate a lot. But you're right, I did have great things happen to me. 
 

A decrease in every single inflammatory marker in my body. A, uh, uh, overall, my sleep went from about 30 to 33 percent in deep and REM to 60 to 66 percent in deeper REM. Uh, I, uh, you know, I, uh, I, I did not lose significant mass in my arms and legs because I was using some sort of thing that I plan on using in space to try and get. 
 

The bone, the muscle loss to not go the way that it would normally do, right? The atrophy from disuse, right? From being in a zero gravity environment. Not truly wasn't in a fully zero gravity environment, but, you know, kind of, sort of good enough. Not really, but you know, it is, it is pseudo. Um, but you know, so lots of good things came out of it. 
 

Uh, I had a decrease in cortisol is a stress hormone. So when that cortisol dropped, and we're talking going from the mid eighties, uh, till to less than two single digits, basically, when you have a drop in cortisol, you have a corresponding, a corresponding increase. In what? Testosterone. Wait a minute. Wait, we have a natural way of increasing testosterone? 
 

Hold on a second. You now have my attention, right? So there's a lot of good things that came out of it. I mean, 50 to 70 million Americans alone, uh, suffer from sleep problems. Holy mackerel! That's a ton of people, man. That's a high percentage of our entire population. So maybe we can work on something to find a cure or help for people who don't sleep well. 
 

You know, lots of good things have come out of it, but more questions than answers at this point.  
 

[00:14:34] Marco Ciappelli: Right. Right, right. How did these kids, the students that you interact with react to that? I mean, you think you can really create that sparkle? Because isn't that like everybody's dream where you're telling a story and you're motivated, you want to really inspire. 
 

You don't want to tell them what to do, but you want to kind of like work that story in a way that they decide that this is Cool thing to do themselves. So were they excited? Tell me about this relationship because I'm excited about yeah sharing of knowledge and and bring it the next generation  
 

[00:15:08] Dr. Joseph Dituri: Yeah, no So so here's the scoop when you show kids that you are a normal person That cares for them and their well being and understanding And you're passionate about something they're hooked and sold. 
 

Right? So if you have passion and you can't fake passion, I can't teach you to have passion for something. You either have passion or you do not have passion. Uh, but when I showed them how much passion I had and I gave them open, open, uh, you know, open, right. To ask me any question whatsoever. These kids, they went crazy. 
 

They asked questions that were off the deep end, but I'm telling you, these were great questions. You know, you're, they're asking, um, legal questions about what it would be like to inhabit the, um, you know, the sea floor. I mean, I'm like, I'm floored by some of the questions that I got. And I'm like, you know, I had to take a pass on a couple going, look, I just, I just don't know. 
 

That's not my area of expertise. I would hope that we would be kind and do stuff this way. However, comma. I'm not a lawyer. So, you know, and the other thing is when you show them that you are vulnerable, like you become vulnerable to the kid and go, listen, I don't know, but let's go look it up together. 
 

Let's Google it. I don't know, you know, but, but so then we look it up together and then I can explain the answer a little bit, man, the kids were so hooked that when we wound up, when they wound up leaving, I mean, I got letters that you wouldn't believe people that were like you. You inspired me to want to teach, and that's the greatest compliment in the world, because, you know, if I could have a teacher, if I could have only had a teacher like you, I would have been more successful. 
 

Wow, that either that says a lot of bad things about the current teachers or, you know, yeah, so I don't know, but hopefully we're, uh, we're lending in the right direction. We're leaning in the right direction.  
 

[00:17:06] Marco Ciappelli: So one thing I'm curious, and it may have even been a question that a kid ask you, because if I were a kid, I would ask you that. 
 

It's like, why are we not living under the ocean? Why? I mean, I know I've seen enough movies where the even Cameron itself, one of the problem is the pressure that you get when you get down there and technology is definitely getting better. But, um, Is there even a possibility?  
 

[00:17:33] Dr. Joseph Dituri: Yeah, it's hard, right? It's hard. 
 

And the human physiology hasn't really been worked out. Now we believe, our team believes, that we are at human tolerance for, uh, pulmonary oxygen toxicity, which is a, uh, something that will come over our bodies when we are exposed to too high a level of oxygen. Now, while I was down there, I was breathing air. 
 

Now, But I have the advent of the partial pressure, the increased partial pressure, because I'm breathing at about 1. 7 times the atmosphere that you and I are at right now. I'm breathing 1. 7 times that, so it's 1. 7 times the 21 percent oxygen. So that increase in oxygen, even though it's only the partial pressure of oxygen, my body doesn't know the difference. 
 

So in saturation diving, our maximum time that we are allowed to stay at, uh, 5 or 50 percent oxygen perceived even, uh, even in, you know, uh, breathing, partial pressure. So the perceived partial pressure of oxygen 5, we're only allowed to stay there for 35 days max. So I was breathing about 36, give or take. 
 

Partial pressure of oxygen. And it turns out that we're only allowed to stay there for about a hundred days. So we'd have to change the gas mix that we're, we're breathing. We'd have to, it was a lot, there's lots of things that have to go into this. There's a lot of thought. That's the problem is there's a lot of thought. 
 

[00:19:01] Marco Ciappelli: Yeah, because I mean, there's a lot of thought in going to live on the moon on a base there, going to live on Mars. I mean, that sounds, pretty complicated too.  
 

[00:19:11] Dr. Joseph Dituri: Yeah, well, like I said, you know, there's a concept or the idea of going to Mars and then there's the actual reality. The reality of going to Mars is, I have a question, what are we going to eat? 
 

On the way there. Yeah. Oh, we'll just, we'll just have a bunch of tuna fish or potatoes. Where, where are we going to, where are we going to put the cans? Like, wait, I've, I've still been like, we, we're going to drink water. Okay. That's great. And we can re drink our urine. That's, that's true. It does happen. You can't do it. 
 

But as you well know, there's a lot of lime loss. There's about 20 percent lime loss, which means you need to have a renewable stock of drinking water. And where do we get that in space? Yeah, that's, this is hard. We have hard questions that need answers. And this is why we need the kids. This is because you and I, I mean, I'm, I'm. 
 

I'm your age for crying out loud. I'm, I'm older than you, but, uh, you know, at the point of doing this, uh, I'm not going to Mars. I'm just going to go right out there and say, cause it's not going to happen in my lifetime. Maybe it will only because I intend to live to 110, but you know, in my perceived life,  
 

[00:20:23] Marco Ciappelli: I'll come with  
 

[00:20:23] Dr. Joseph Dituri: you. 
 

You have to go to the gym first and then you have to, there's so many things you have to  
 

do.  
 

[00:20:31] Marco Ciappelli: Oh yeah. Talking about Jim and about the adventures and the future, uh, you're part of the Explorer Club. I remember you mentioned something about that. So being a big fan of fantasy, the Lord of the Ring, I'm rereading it now, The Fellowship of the Ring , you know, I'm fascinated by all the Explorer back in the days, uh, that really didn't know where they were going. 
 

Jumping on a boat and who knows where I'm going and if I'm coming back, but we did it anyway You know going to the top of Mount Everest going here  
 

and and losing lives But so where I'm going with this is we read adventure. We watch movie We imagine the impossible as some people they They actually try to do it. 
 

You know, I read it, but some people like you, you actually go down there. So let's talk about the importance of getting fascinated by exploring and taking risks as part of the human nature, maybe. And And how it does inspire kids, I mean, you read a book as a kid, you're going to want to probably do that kind of stuff. 
 

[00:21:40] Dr. Joseph Dituri: So, here's the basic premise.  
 

Pick up any old map. And I'm talking old, right? A chart, right? What are there on the borders? All the way circling the borders.  
 

Ah, yeah. Creatures and monsters. Creatures  
 

and monsters, right? So what's our job as humans to just push those monsters off the map, right? We're pushing monsters. 
 

That's what we're doing on a daily, right? This is not mine. I mean, this is a famous saying, but we are, we're pushing monsters and it's not just that. It's not just the exploration. It's coming back and telling people about it. I met the indigenous tribe of And they taught me whatever, right? And because it's that your addition, right? 
 

It's that learning what happened out there and then coming back and educating the world. What do we have left? I mean, we are solving world hunger. As we speak, we're literally getting a handle on our garbage. Oh, if we don't, I can't imagine what's going on. Let's just say that we are what's left exploration and that's it. 
 

And where's the place that we haven't explored. We've climbed to the top of the mountain. We've bought and many people go to Mount Everest right now. Right. It's easy, not easy, but it happens. Right. And so I'll give you a, uh, I'll give you an analogy. Like when John Krakauer wrote his book, uh, into thin air, right. 
 

Lots of people died that year on the mountain. Uh, I want to say it was 2000, 2000, maybe. I don't remember, but lots of people died on the mountain that year. Would you think that it would dissuade people from going? Nope. Increase sales the next year to go because it's dangerous and if you know, like we just had a disaster going to the Titanic and it's hard. 
 

It's pressure is hard in the water. It's difficult, right? So we have that kind of a disaster and people are like, well, what do you think? Is it going to dissuade people from doing a subsea exploration? I'm like, Nope, they're going to double down. People are going to double down and they're going to explore more. 
 

That's at least what I hope. It's the only frontier left on earth. And about 28 people have been to the bottom of the Marianas Trench. Um, 656 people have been to space. 656, 28. Hmm. And the, the 28, most of those, uh, three had gone up until 2012. So most of those have been in the last. 18 months, a year and a year, almost two years in the last two years. 
 

And that's it, right? Before that, it was only three.  
 

[00:24:28] Marco Ciappelli: Yeah. And we, we have to resolve a lot of issues. I mean, a lot of rockets have exploded before we got there. And, and, uh, it's fascinating. I mean, the adventures that this. Oh, yeah. Guys that lived and women. I mean, I had Eileen Collins on two shows and she was the first commandant of space shuttle as a woman and a fantastic person and I read her book. 
 

And she was a test pilot because that's the only way you could have as a woman to actually become that because you couldn't come from the military, uh, as a jet pilot. And when she described the risk that the test pilot takes in experimenting with the airplane, you're like, Oh my God, this is a different brain. 
 

It's incredible. But even when I think about, what you do and when people go down in the ocean, for me, it's... It's really, I don't know, there is more similarity than differences  
 

for me.  
 

[00:25:28] Dr. Joseph Dituri: Aquanauts to astronauts, the pathway to success. Every single, Joe's opinion, every single successful astronaut has been an aquanaut. 
 

And I mean, we train people for astronauts in the water. Every single one of them is trained in the water. Not, not. All of them, all of them are trained, right? So it's like, ah, we train people in the water. Why don't we just pull from the people who already explored the ocean? That's at least my opinion.  
 

[00:26:01] Marco Ciappelli: You want to, you want to go in space, right?  
 

[00:26:04] Dr. Joseph Dituri: I want to go in space. That's, uh, that's a goal.  
 

[00:26:07] Marco Ciappelli: Let's finish with that. Tell me about the next  
 

adventure.  
 

[00:26:11] Dr. Joseph Dituri: So my next thing that I'm doing right now is I have a zero gravity flight planned and I'm going to test. I test those muscle devices for making sure that you could keep your same size muscle while you're in a zero gravity environment or less gravity environment, you know, or, uh, you know, a simulated gravitational environment. 
 

So. We're hoping to track that on the Zero G flight. First time we're flying those cuffs in space. And we're going to see, because if we're going to fly to Mars, we have real problems. Like, you spend 200 days on the International Space Station, you come down, I have to carry you off of the lander. Doesn't matter what the lander is, I have to carry you off. 
 

200 days. That's how long it's going to take to get to Mars. Okay, great. Who's going to carry us off on Mars? I realize that gravity is different, but still, we're going to be atrophied. And then, what's it going to be like on the way home? It's a year and a half. It's a two year round trip mission to Mars. I mean, I know I'm ballparking it. 
 

I know there's a possibility to slingshot around the moon and get there faster. I'm not talking about any of that stuff. But, I'm talking about a basic orbital mechanic says it's going to be about a two year trip. And a two year trip? It's a long time to spend in space, baby. You better figure that  
 

out.  
 

[00:27:30] Marco Ciappelli: A lot can happen. 
 

All you need to do is watch some sci fi and you know that. Right, right.  
 

[00:27:36] Dr. Joseph Dituri: One electrical storm from the sun. One. You have no crew. They're gone.  
 

[00:27:44] Marco Ciappelli: But you know what, like you said, people are going to do it. I'm going to do it. 
 

Incredible. Look, a ton of fantastic stories. I hope as I say often that when people listen to this show, they get excited, they get passionate, they have more questions than answers, right? I mean, if you get more questions at the end of a conversation and people go and start searching for. For answers and ideas and maybe they'll contact you and that's what I invite them to do. 
 

It's a winning. It's a winning. Exactly. So I, I'm excited about this conversation. Uh, I invite people to go to, uh, your website, drdeepsea. com, but also there'll be notes in the, in this podcast. If you're watching on YouTube, uh, you know, not much to see, but here we are. So if that's your thing, there is the notes down there, subscribe and, uh, definitely, uh, Get in touch with Joseph fantastic stories. 
 

I hope a little a little different than when we talk about a book, of course, but I think it's real stuff. Real stuff. And you did it, Joseph. Thank you so much.  
 

Thank you. I appreciate it.  
 

I hope I'll get to chat more with you  
 

again. Take care. Always talk. Thanks. Take care. Bye bye.