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Jeju-do is the largest of Korean islands and lies between Korea and Japan. There, for hundreds of years, women dive without breathing apparatus, to the ocean floor and collect shellfish, octopus, and ...

A couple of years ago, Melissa Ilardo found herself aboard a motorboat traversing the ocean around Jeju Island, which sits some 50 or 60 miles off the coast of South Korea. Before the vessel had even ...

Imprints of evolution can be seen among the Haenyeo of South Korea. After generations of foraging for food on the seabed, these all-women divers have fostered several genetic adaptations that allow ...

Ilardo decided to compare the Haenyeo to other elderly women on Jeju Island who aren't divers but have a similar genetic background, and to still others off-island who aren't related. There were about ...