SEOUL – For centuries, women on South Korea’s Jeju Island have dived deep into the sea to harvest seafood to provide for ...

On Jeju Island, 50 miles south of the Korean peninsula, senior women regularly dive up to 60 feet beneath the ocean’s surface ...

Scientists have investigated the unique biology of the Haenyeo, women from the South Korean island of Jeju who are known for their ability to free dive.

Past work from Ilardo has shown that nomadic Bajau divers in Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines have especially large spleens. Even Bajau people who don’t dive seem to share this trait, ...

Jeju Haenyeo — which translates to "women of the sea" — begin diving for seafood at around the age of 15, gathering abalone, sea urchins and octopuses. According to UNESCO, members of the group ...

The all-female Korean Haenyeo divers show genetic adaptations to cold-water diving involving their blood pressure and cold tolerance. "It's like a superpower," says one of the researchers.

What is more astonishing about these women is their age. Most of them range from 60 to 80 years old, and they still dive for ...

although it’s unclear when exactly it shifted to only women. A diver from Jeju Island: a Haenyeo (woman of the sea) photographed circa 1954. Some historians think diving on the island goes back ...

The secret to tackling one of the United States’ most deadly chronic diseases may reside thousands of miles away in the ...

The Jeju Haenyeo are professional underwater divers who do not rely on apparatus to harvest marine lives in Jeju Island. They realized that the sea is a Mother Nature to be tendered and preserved ...

"Things like abalone, sea urchins … seaweeds sometimes ... Ilardo decided to compare the Haenyeo to other elderly women on Jeju Island who aren't divers but have a similar genetic background ...