Real-world Superpowers Are Emerging In Humans
SUPERPOWERS do exist. Well, so maybe we can't grow enormous claws like Wolverine from the X-Men, but scientists believe that our bodies and minds are capable of numerous seemingly superhuman abilities.
Superpowers can occasionally develop as a result of genetic mutations, much like in comic book origin stories. Others, however, are attainable. While some of us are born with an advantage, most of us have unrealized potential. Scientists are only now beginning to understand what goes on within the bodies and minds of those who have heightened ability.
However, additional superpowers are attainable. Mental athletes, those who achieve incredible memory feats, assert that anyone can train their mind to become as sharp as a steel trap. With the correct training, fear itself may be overcome, as demonstrated by climber Alex Honnold, who has been compared to Spider-Man for his ability to scale vertical rock faces without the need of ropes.
The inner workings of the bodies and minds of individuals possessing these and other enhanced skills are still mostly unknown to scientists. While some of us have an advantage due to our DNA, most of us have unrealized potential.
These are but a handful of the super heroes that live among us:
Extremely courageous: Alex Honnold
The majority of people get shivers just by glancing at a picture of Alex Honnold hanging by his fingertips from a sheer edge.
Certainly not Honnold's. A startling discovery was made in 2016 when researchers used functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) to study the brain of the well-known climber. The brain region associated with fear, the amygdala, was completely silent in Honnold's case when he was given horrific images that normally cause strong activity in this area.
Honnold has long denied having a fearless mentality, and his brain structure is completely normal. As the researcher who studied Honnold's brain activity, Jane Joseph noted in Popular Science in 2018, “it's possible that he's conditioned himself to tamp down certain brain activity by focusing instead on meticulously planning each move.”
Psychologists assist patients overcome their anxieties using similar kinds of training, and neuroscience is showing us how fear memories are formed and can be reversed.
The rest of us can utilize that superpower.
Extreme tenacity: Sherpas
Tatum Simonson, a researcher at the University of California, San Diego, focuses on the physiology and genetics of high-altitude adaptation. He claims that humans are still evolving. She also claims that the Sherpa people of Nepal are a prime example of a superpower developing.
“There is still evolution occurring in humans,” states Tatum Simonson of the University of California, San Diego, who specializes in the genetics and physiology of high-altitude adaption. And, according to her, the Sherpa people of Nepal are the ideal illustration of a superpower developing.
This ethnic group has been residing at an average elevation of 14,000 feet (4,200 meters) above sea level, where there is around 40% less oxygen than at sea level, for more than 6,000 years. “There's been a lot of time for natural selection to figure out the best way to deal with low oxygen,” Simonson explains.
The human body normally produces extra red blood cells that carry oxygen as oxygen levels fall, but this thickens the blood and increases the risk of altitude sickness and even death. Conversely, Sherpas have evolved a number of genetic abnormalities that enable them to sustain low red blood cell counts while their cells' mitochondria utilize oxygen more effectively.
Simonson is researching how well Tibetans function at lower elevations and has shown that they retain their edge even at sea level. She aims to draw lessons from this superpower to assist those who suffer from persistently low blood oxygen levels as a result of respiratory or cardiovascular conditions.
Bajau “sea nomads” are exceptional swimmers
Superman and Aquaman are two examples of superheroes we adore because they can go where the rest of us cannot. This is the reason we adore them.
Free divers can explore the ocean's depths without the need for diving equipment. In instance, the Bajau people of Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines are well known for their ability to submerge themselves for up to 13 minutes at a depth of 230 feet (70 meters).
Scientists claim that the Bajau have developed a genetic advantage to utilise oxygen more effectively, just as the Sherpas. But because their oxygen deprivation is more acute, the Bajau have evolved a quicker mechanism. Natural selection has tended to prefer larger spleens—which contain red blood cells that have received oxygen—over time. Their spleens contract when diving, spitting this reserve into the circulation.
Super-agility: Isao Machii, a Samurai
Super-agility, or the capacity to move with amazing balance, coordination, and reflexes, is a characteristic shared by legendary creatures like vampires and werewolves in fiction. Some people in real life have superhuman movements thanks to a mix of training and heredity.
Consider Isao Machii, the swordsman. If you aim a bullet at him, he may instantly split it in half by slashing it with his sword (see it here). Alternatively, observe the renowned marksman Bob Munden, who was tested and shown to be able to draw and fire his gun precisely in less than a tenth of a second—a faster response than the typical human brain.
Researchers are still trying to figure out how the central nervous system enables people to consciously plan and carry out such intricate actions.
Super memory: Mentally fit athletes
It is possible to commit a deck of cards' order to memory in about twenty seconds. Alternatively, in a few of minutes, the names and faces of several hundred strangers. These kinds of things come naturally to some of the mental athletes that participate in the annual USA Memory Championship.
However, memory champions are just unique in that they have practiced, according to Anthony Dottino, who founded the championship event. Anyone can improve their memory at any age, according to Dottino and his son Michael, who run memory training classes.
Michael Dottino is trying to prove it by studying the effects of memory training on brain activity in collaboration with neuroscientists. Memory procedures function by creating neural networks in the brain that link new memories to previously experienced ones, as research is beginning to show. Furthermore, after just six weeks of training, typical people can significantly increase their memory, according to a study published in the journal Neuron.
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