Could we, in theory, use something like CRISPR to give a new baby replacement super-kidneys (or whatever organ it is that makes drinking saltwater be a bad time)? It seems like if we cracked that, we’d be set as a species.
Thanks for your time.
According to this article, a longer loop of Henle in the kidney could be the secret to what allows some mammals to drink sea water.
For reference on why we didn’t evolve this naturally, this Stack Exchange answer suggests that most land animals live near fresh water.
This is the best answer.
Also, we need a lot of freshwater for our food (plants and animals). The amount we personally use for drinking is neglible.
It would solve nothing.
Now, if we could grow something like corn or soy with salt water… That would be a game changer.
On the other hand, we already have the technology to desalinate water. It’s mostly a cost and energy issue, not a technology issue.
If we grow some crop with salt water, we will be literally salting the earth, so unless we are talking about hydroponics/aquaponics, that would be very damaging for the soil and environment. That needs to be consider as well.
Good point. Another reason to favor desalination.
It’s a good point, but desalination has the same issue. Whenever you use seawater to produce something with almost no salt in it (be it desalinated water or crops), that means the salt has to go somewhere else. Probably in concentrated form.
Desalination may not salt the earth, but brine can create dead zones in the water. There are solutions like diluting it, and there are cases of operators who don’t care. Either way, salt is an issue if you use salt water. Has to go somewhere.
Diluting it is just undoing the desalination on the water used to dilute it.
There are better ways to do this. Examples:
- Desalination plant provides town with fresh water
- Town’s waste water is treated before going back into the ocean
- Brine gets diluted into that treated stream
In theory, this could give and take the same amount of salt water to and from the ocean, while still providing desalinated water for use.
Another way to dilute brine is to add it to the ocean in small bits in multiple locations, so neither location exceeds a certain salt concentration.
hmm how about making a seaweed that grows meat tumors then.
Or just eat the seaweed. Tons of nutrients in there. Plus it tastes great as a salad!
Great question. Since we evolved consuming “fresh”, non-salt, water our physiology revolves around certain set points for normal neurological, renal, and basic cellular function. Consuming salt water changes the osmolality of the blood, which then causes shifts of fluid to try and balance the change of osmolality which negatively effects neurological function since we evolved to function within a strict range of osmolality, sodium level, etc. The body manages this from the pituitary/ adrenal / and renal perspective to maintain neurological function. If you could create a situation where the normal isotonic function is reset to a more hypertonic environment then that would be the start. I’m only familiar with human physiology and pathology but perhaps someone who is familiar with fish physiology could comment on how fish stay “hydrated”.
Sea turtles have an organ that excretes the excess of salt near their eyes to deal with that.
They cry because they remember
You make it sound like drinking salt water would solve all of our humanitarian problems or something. Lack of resources is not our problem, lack of fair and reasonable distribution of resources is. Never forget that five or six men own as much as the rest of the world combined.
They worked really hard for it though /s
