Flotsam & Jetsam

Diagnosing DCS Before Symptoms Appear. An instrument that can diagnose DCS in just seconds is being developed by Kirill Larin, assistant professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Houston. His optical device can locate and map nitrogen in blood and tissues, using lasers that bounce back when they encounter microbubbles. The laser is being developed with a $400,000 grant from the U.S. Navy, which would like to use it on its divers as soon as they surface and get anyone affected to a decompression chamber before damage occurs.

Wife-Killing Diver Nabbed By Feds. David Swain, the Rhode Island dive shop owner found guilty by a civil court for murdering his wife Susan Tyne while diving in Tortola, was arrested by federal authorities in November. Attorneys said circumstantial evidence, including his behavior after her death, apparent financial motivation, and Tyne’s gear showing signs of a violent struggle, was “overwhelming.” The civil court ruling last year ordered Swain to pay Tyne’s parents millions in damages. Now, eight years after the incident, he is facing extradition to the British Virgin Islands for a murder trial. (For the full story, read our April 2006 issue.)

Dive Shop Fined For Student Death. Jurassic Diving Center in Exmouth, England has been fined thousands of pounds after pleading guilty to poor gear maintenance that killed a student. Tom Young, 24, was on a dive trip five miles off the Devon coast when he had difficulties with his air supply and sank 90 feet to the sea floor. After investigators found Jurassic’s regulators were assembled incorrectly, the shop was fined the equivalent of US$24,360.

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