Scientists have long known that some beaked whales beach themselves and die in agony after exposure to naval sonar, and now they know why: the giant sea mammals suffer decompression sickness, just like scuba divers. At first blush, the explanation laid out today by 21 experts in the Royal Society journal Proceedings B seems implausible. Millions of years of evolution have turned whales into perfectly calibrated diving machines that plunge kilometres below the surface for hours at a stretch, foraging for food in the inky depths.
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