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With Every Breath You Take, Thank the Ocean

When was the last time you thought about your breathing? Take a breath right now and think about it. You breathe because you need oxygen, a gas which makes up 21 percent of the Earth’s atmosphere. All that oxygen has to come from somewhere. You might already know that it comes from photosynthetic organisms like plants. But did you know that most of the oxygen you breathe comes from organisms in the ocean? That’s right—more than half of the oxygen you breathe comes from marine photosynthesizers, like phytoplankton and seaweed. Both use carbon dioxide, water and energy from the sun to make food for themselves, releasing oxygen in the process. In other words, they photosynthesize. And they do it…

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Featured

 Oxygen – a critical, but overlooked, nutrient

Every nutritional scientist knows what constitutes the macro- and micronutrients, and they are extensively discussed in textbooks of nutrition. The macronutrients are considered to encompass proteins, carbohydrates and lipids – but is this the totality? There are actually two other macronutrients that are rarely, if ever, considered, one of which is water. The other is Oxygen; many in nutrition would not, however, consider this element to be a nutrient as such.

 The Oxygen Dilemma: Can Too Much O2 Kill?

Without it, cells die. With too much, they die even faster. Mounting evidence suggests, however, that resuscitating with too much of the gas may actually have a harmful effect. The culprit in brain damage may not be a lack of oxygen but rather its reintroduction into the body.

 ‘It’s absolute anarchy’: Oxygen therapy chambers have led to horrific deaths. Why are Maha elite raving about them?

Touted as a cure for everything from wrinkles to autism, the treatment has been hyped by Robert F Kennedy Jr and various celebrities. Experts say it needs to be regulated

Articles of Interest

An Invisible Medical Shortage: Oxygen

Oxygen is vital to many medical procedures. But a safe, affordable supply is severely lacking around the world, according to a new report.

Too much oxygen increases risk of death in acutely ill adult patients

Extensive data analyses in a study from McMaster show that supplemental oxygen, when given liberally to these patients, increases the risk of death without improving other health outcomes.

Don’t Let Oxygen Fool You

As we search for life on other planets, particularly exoplanets, we look for signals or indicators that are uniquely characteristic of life. But what makes for a good biosignature? Since oxygen plays such an important role in life as we know it, especially advanced life, some scientists suggest we should simply look for the spectral signature of large amounts of oxygen in the atmospheres of other planets. At first glance this seems to make sense, as Earth is the only planet in our solar system with plenty of oxygen in its atmosphere, and the only one with a thriving biosphere on its surface.

Faulty Oxygen Readings Delayed Care to Black and Hispanic Covid Patients, Study Finds

Pulse oximeters routinely overestimated levels of oxygen in the blood in darker-skinned Covid patients, leading to delays in treatment and hospital readmissions, according to a research article published on Thursday. The research focused on the first years of the coronavirus pandemic, when patients overwhelmed hospitals. At the time, blood-oxygen levels were a key factor in deciding which patients wound up in limited hospital beds and received treatment.

Geologists are searching for when the Earth took its first breath

The planet's early oxygenation events were more like rollercoaster rides than spikes.

Medical oxygen should not be a luxury – we’re trying to develop a cheaper way to produce it

We hope the advantages of a cheap oxygen concentrator device will outlive the pandemic. Oxygen supply is key to treat childhood pneumonia and chronic pulmonary diseases – both conditions that globally kill more people than AIDS or malaria. Everyone should have access to oxygen, and technology like ours could one day help provide that access.

Oxygen as an Essential Medicine

In this review, we explore the history of oxygen therapy in medicine and briefly review the important physiology. We subsequently outline the clinical relevance of determining the optimal delivery method and “dose” of supplemental oxygen among critically ill patients.

Oxygen is an essential medicine: a call for international action

Oxygen treatment has been used in medicine for almost 100 years, but in developing countries most seriously ill newborns, children and adults do not have access to oxygen or the simple test that can detect hypoxaemia. Improving access to oxygen and pulse oximetry has demonstrated a reduction in mortality from childhood pneumonia by up to 35% in high-burden child pneumonia settings.

Oxygen is STILL Not the Wonder Drug

We had a visceral reaction in 2010 when we learned oxygen may actually be harmful. We’ve gradually—but not fully—acknowledged that oxygen is a drug with an indication (hypoxia). It doesn’t make patients miraculously “feel better,” as many proclaim, or reduce non-hypoxic anxiety.

Oxygen Toxicity

Susceptibility to oxygen toxicity varies widely. Factors that increase seizure risk include carbon dioxide retention, underwater immersion, cold exposure, and exercise. Scuba divers may use breathing gases containing up to 100% oxygen, such as enriched air nitrox or closed-circuit rebreathers, and require specialized training in safe use. In recent years, oxygen has become available for recreational use in oxygen bars. The US Food and Drug Administration advises individuals with cardiovascular or pulmonary conditions against the use of oxygen bars.

Oxygen: both friend and foe

Krakauer’s book is controversial because it examines factors that may have contributed to the disaster and to an extent, attributes blame without giving those accused a right of reply. Some of those who died had exhibited mild symptoms of high altitude pulmonary oedema or cerebral oedema (HAPE and HACE in American argot) before the summit attempt and arguably weren’t in the best shape to survive an unexpected storm.

Scientists may have discovered 'dark oxygen' being created without photosynthesis

Researchers scouring the lightless landscape of the Pacific Ocean floor think they've observed "dark oxygen" being created there, potentially challenging commonly held beliefs about how oxygen is produced on Earth. Until now, it was thought that oxygen was created only through photosynthesis, a process that requires sunlight. But the discovery casts doubt on that theory and raises new questions about the origins of life itself.

The Crucial Role of Oxygen for Health

Every tissue and organ in the body is dependent upon oxygen to function effectively. The human brain, for example, needs 20% of the oxygen pumped from the heart while at rest. The brain’s oxygen requirement is the highest of any tissue or organ, even though it accounts for only 2% of the average person’s body weight.

The life-saving power of medical oxygen

Oxygen is an essential medicine used to care for patients at all levels of the healthcare system, including in surgery, trauma, heart failure, asthma, pneumonia and maternal and child care. Pneumonia alone accounts for 800 000 deaths per year. It is estimated that 20–40% of these deaths could be prevented with the availability of oxygen therapy.

The oxygen crisis

The rise in carbon dioxide emissions is big news. It is prompting action to reverse global warming. But little or no attention is being paid to the long-term fall in oxygen concentrations and its knock-on effects. Compared to prehistoric times, the level of oxygen in the earth's atmosphere has declined by over a third and in polluted cities the decline may be more than 50%. This change in the makeup of the air we breathe has potentially serious implications for our health. Indeed, it could ultimately threaten the survival of human life on earth, according to Roddy Newman, who is drafting a new book, The Oxygen Crisis.

The Wealthy Are Paying Big Money to Pump Oxygen Into Their Mountain Homes

Home-oxygenation systems are becoming the go-to amenity in high altitude towns.

The World’s Oceans Are Losing Oxygen. Here’s Why That’s a Big Problem

A new Nature study published this week found that oxygen levels in worldwide oceans have dipped by more than 2% in the last half-century. While the change may seem small, scientists say even subtle shifts in gas levels can alter entire ecosystems.

Tips for covering the controversy surrounding pulse oximeters

The new guidance comes “decades after studies showed that the widely used devices work less well on patients with darker skin and more than four years after new research on the problem was published during the COVID-19 pandemic, when the devices were instrumental,” AHCJ member and STAT reporter Usha Lee McFarling and colleague Anil Oza wrote in a recent article. McFarling has covered this issue extensively over the past few years.

Why Is Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy Controversial?

Critics argue that while HBOT is FDA-approved for certain conditions (like decompression sickness, carbon monoxide poisoning, and specific kinds of non-healing wounds), many of its purported benefits lack strong scientific backing. They point out that the broader claims often lack consistency and reproducibility in research, leading to concerns that the therapy is being oversold.

Resources

4 Reasons To Try Hyperbaric Oxygen Therapy In 2026

Despite the current hype, hyperbaric oxygen therapy is not new. It originated as a medical treatment for submariners and military personnel during World War I; Madrid’s Gómez Ulla Hospital still houses the Ministry of Defense’s leading Underwater and Hyperbaric Medicine unit. But its recent mainstream appeal is linked partly to athletes and celebrities showcasing its benefits—often on Instagram—and partly to the growing public fascination with living not only longer, but better.

Global Oxygen Alliance

The Global Oxygen Alliance (GO2AL) is a multistakeholder collaborative consisting of 20 organizations and delegations that volunteered to join the Alliance to work towards a collective vision to increase oxygen access in LMICs