FALSE — Humans can breathe water

Analysis summary

Humans lack the biological structures, like gills, to extract oxygen from water, and inhaling water leads to drowning.

Evidence profile

Key findings

• Humans lack gills, which are biologically necessary to extract dissolved oxygen from water; human lungs are evolved strictly for gas exchange from air.
• Water contains significantly less dissolved oxygen than air, and the human metabolic rate is too high to be sustained by the oxygen levels found in water.
• Experimental 'liquid breathing' uses oxygen-rich perfluorocarbons (PFCs) rather than water, and it remains a complex medical procedure not possible for natural human respiration.

Citations