The book discusses the ways in which high hydrostatic pressure (i.e. water pressure) affects
all grades of life which thrive at pressures much greater those in our normal environment. The
deep sea is the best known high pressure environment where pressures reach a thousand times
greater than those at the surface yet it is populated by a variety of animals and
microorganisms. The earth's crust supports microorganisms which live in water filled pores at
high pressure. In addition the load bearing joints of animals like ourselves experience pulses
of hydrostatic pressure of a magnitude similar to the pressure at mid ocean depths. These
pressures affect molecular structures and biochemical reactions. Basic cellular processes are
drastically affected - the growth and division of cells the way nerves conduct impulses and
the chemical reactions which provide energy. Adaptation to high pressure also occurs in complex
physiological systems such as those which provide buoyancy. Probably the greatest challenge to
our understanding of adaptation to high pressure is the stabilisation of the nervous system of
deep sea animals to avoid convulsions which pressure causes in shallow water animals.
Additionally the book provides insight into the engineering required to study life at high
pressure: equipment which can trap small deep sea animals and retrieve them at their high
pressure equivalent equipment for microorganisms laboratory microscopes which can focus on
living cells under high pressure incubators for bacteria which require high pressure to grow
high pressure aquaria for marine animals and lastly and briefly manned and unmanned
submersible vessels Landers and deep drill hole sampling. Rather like the organisms studied
many laboratory instruments have been adapted to function at high pressure.
