You may soon breathe underwater by injecting oxygen into your bloodstream.

Researchers at Boston Children’s Hospital have designed microparticles that can be injected into your bloodstream to quickly oxygenate your body. Even if you can’t/aren’t breathing. And it can keep people alive for 15 to 30 minutes. It’s one of the best medical breakthroughs in recent years, and one that could save millions of lives every year.

The particles are pockets of oxygen in a layer of lipids, specifically fats. This is then suspended in liquid, which can be injected into the blood steam. The oxygen then “squeeze[s] through capillaries,” according to Dr. John Kheir of Boston Children’s Hospital.

The implications of this are enormous. It could mean doctors have another 15 to 30 minutes to work on patients who have lost the ability to breathe, an amount of time that could potentially save lives.

The real question, though, is does this mean we can now breathe underwater?

Photo credit: Web Pro News

Via Dvice