Carl Spencer, 37, a member of a National Geographic team exploring the wreckage of the Britannic, the Titanic's sister ship, in the Aegean Sea, died of decompression sickness on Sunday, the Merchant Marine Ministry said. Spencer was rushed to the Athens Naval Hospital after diving to film the wreckage of the ship, 4 miles off the island of Kea, southeast of Athens, the ministry said. Spencer, who showed symptoms of the illness widely known as "the bends," had been aboard the Belgian-owned research vessel CDT Fourcault. He was flown to the hospital by helicopter but was unconscious upon arrival. His team was to spend nine days doing an internal and external analysis of the wreckage. Spencer had led a similar expedition to the Britannic in 2003. The technical diver had also taken part in an exploration of the Titanic wreckage as part of a Discovery Channel expedition led by filmmaker James Cameron, who directed the 1997 blockbuster "Titanic."
Robert F. Furchgott, 92, a pharmacologist whose work with the gas nitric oxide opened new vistas of research in cardiovascular functions, helped lead to the development of the anti-impotency drug Viagra, and brought him a share of a Nobel Prize, died on Tuesday in Seattle. Nitric oxide had been known as an air pollutant that contributed to smog and acid rain, but research by Furchgott, Dr. Louis J. Ignarro and Dr. Ferid Murad proved that it acted as an important signal in the cardiovascular system, mediating blood pressure and blood flow. In awarding the prize for physiology or medicine in 1998, the Swedish Nobel assembly praised the scientists for providing the first proof that a gas, despite its inherent instability and ephemeral nature, can perform important biochemical functions in the body.
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