Would you agree to live in a cave for 40 days, surrounded by strangers and with no access to any phone, clock or natural light, just for the sake of science?
An extreme “first world” experiment is to see 15 people do this, to explore the long-term effects of isolation on the human body without any notion of time.
French volunteers, who receive no compensation for their participation, are between 27 and 50 years old and include a biologist, a jeweler and a mathematics teacher.
Hijacked in the cave of Lombrives, in the Ariège, the team has four tons of supplies to live on, along with water from the cave and a dynamo driven by pedals to get electricity.
Mission leader Christian Clot, who is one of the participants, was inspired to conduct the test after seeing how the COVID-19 pandemic brought isolation to our lives.
However, the explorer has received some criticism in the French press for assuming the title of researcher without having formal scientific training.
The “Deep Time” experiment began at 8:00 pm on Sunday, March 14, and, if all goes according to plan, will end on April 22.
The findings of the project could be relevant to future space missions, submarine crews, mining equipment and other environments where people would be locked up for long periods.
Deep Time follows in the footsteps of French geologist Michel Siffre, who spent several periods underground, including a six-month period in 1972.
He found that the circadian cycle of the human body can vary in duration when unrelated to stimuli from natural light.
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Would you agree to live in a cave for 40 days, surrounded by strangers and with no access to any phone, clock or natural light, just for the sake of science? An extreme “first world” experiment is to see 15 people do this, to explore the long-term effects of isolation on the human body without any notion of time. In the photo: members of the experimentation team and journalists coming down to the entrance of the Lombrives cave, in Ariège, on March 14, 2021
French volunteers (pictured), who receive no compensation for their participation, are between 27 and 50 years old and include a biologist, a jeweler and a math teacher
“Loss of time is the biggest disorientation there is, and it’s this aspect that the Deep Time mission wants to better understand,” the team said on its website.
“During certain events, our perception of time is altered; it seems to happen very slowly or very quickly, unrelated to the reality of every second that passes.”
What happens then? How to find the meaning of time? What connections are there between cognitive time and biological time, between the brain and genetic cells?
What is the relationship between perceived time and normative time, that of our clocks? How does our brain see time?
To answer these questions, project leaders have said the fifteen participants will be monitored by a dozen teams of scientists on the surface using data collected by an assortment of sensors.
One of the participants, Arnaud Burel, 29, told Oddity Central that he agreed to take part in the unusual experiment in order to experience this timeless life, which is impossible outside with our computers and mobile phones reminding us constantly. of our appointments and obligations. ‘
However, the biologist added, he agreed that spending almost six weeks confined in a cave with 14 strangers would not be easy and that he considered communication to be key to making sure their time together went smoothly.
In Lombrives, the largest cave in Europe by volume, the team will be forced to adapt to the constant temperature of 12 ° C (54 ° F) and 95% humidity.
In the cave, “three separate living spaces have been enabled: one for sleeping, one for living, and one for conducting studies on the topography of the site, especially the flora and fauna,” Clot told Le Parisian.
The experiment has been funded by a total of € 1.2 million (£ 1 million) from both public and private funding sources.
Hijacked in the Lombrives cave, in Ariège (pictured), the team has four tons of supplies to live on, along with water from the cave and a pedal-powered dynamo for electricity.
The leader of the mission, Christian Clot (pictured), who is one of the participants, was inspired to conduct the test after seeing how the COVID-19 pandemic brought isolation to our lives.
“This experiment is the first world,” he told neuroscientist Etienne Koechlin of the École Normale Supérieure in Paris on the Belgian news site 7sur7.
“Until now, all missions of this type have focused on the study of the physiological rhythms of the body, but never on the impact of this type of temporary rupture on the cognitive and emotional functions of the human being,” he said. add.
You can find more information about the experiment on the Deep Time website.
The “Deep Time” experiment began on Sunday, March 14 at 8 p.m., local time, and, if all goes according to plan, will conclude on April 22. In the photo, the entrance to the Lombrives cave
In the Lombrives cave, the largest in Europe by volume, the team will be forced to adapt to the constant temperature of 12 ° C (54 ° F) and 95% humidity.