JD Headcanons | Mutation
While it's easy to think of JD's mutation as primarily mass/energy manipulation related, there are a few physiological quirks that come with it. The most notable of these allow him to survive extreme amounts of pressure (not terribly unlike a deep-sea-diving whale). His rib cages and sinus cavities can collapse, his myoglobin (the oxygen binding protein in muscles) is both positively charged and present in a factor of about ten times greater than average in most humans. As pressure increases, he stops breathing, automatically shunts blood from extremities to the brain, heart, and muscles, and shuts down digestion, kidney and liver function. His heartbeat can slow to as little as four beats a minute, and his blood is quite a bit more viscous than average, though it varies depending on how much or often he uses in a given multi-week period. He is blissfully immune to the Bends. As a result of all that, he can also hold his breath for about two hours, not that knows this or would ever feel particularly inclined to test it. [[Note: while physiologically infeasible in humans, these traits are present in deep sea diving mammals, with the exception of immunity to the Bends which they can occasionally get. If you are nerdy like me and want to know more lookup Cuvier's beaked whales!]]
