'Deep Time' Experiment: 15 Bold Volunteers Lock Themselves Inside a Pitch-Black Cave For 40 Days

Scientists hope the experiment will give worthy data for submarine works, mining missions, and lengthy space travel, 21st century potential reality. The pandemic-related quarantines that have happened in the past years have educated billions of people all over the world what different phases of isolation feels like.

(Photo : Robin)

A Team of 15 Volunteers 

Nevertheless, none of those phases of isolation looks similar to the so-called Deep Time experiment now advancing in France. While most of the world remained locked down in their respective homes on March 14, a team of 15 volunteers got into the Lombrives Cave with a plan to not show up for 40 days. 

Scientists hope the research, spreading in the rural part of Ariège, will explain more on how passage of time is processed by human beings without weighing it with natural factors, as reported by IFL Science.

In addition to a complete scarcity of sunlight, these seven women and eight men locked themselves in a cave without phones or watches. More so, they are depending on a pedal-driven generator to generate electricity so that they can see everything inside their cave.

The test was inspired by Christian Clot, a French-Swiss explorer and writer, and was directly brainchild by the lengthy isolation many people have experienced during the coronavirus pandemic.

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The First in the World 

A neuroscientist, professor Etienne Koechlin said this experiment is the first in the world. Till now, all tasks of this kind focused on the research of the body's physiological rhythms, but never focused on the impact of this kind of secular rupture on the emotional and cognitive functions of the human being. 

Each member was cleared and discovered to be in stable mental and physical health prior to when the experiment began. The ages of the participants range from 27 to 50, while their occupation runs the field, as well. From jewelers and biologists to teachers in primary school, all of them are now the same inside the cave.

The team's occupations were chosen to show the realities of the cave, with qualified biologists and meddlesome teachers, after all, possibly making for a competent team. 

Close to four tons of supplies were towed in earlier. While the generator has the capability to provide artificial light to volunteers, they will have to draw water from the cave itself so as to stay alive and hydrated. Luckily, food was among the stockpile that participants were given before they entered the cave.

(Photo : Jeremy Bishop)

How the Mind React to Loss of All Sense of Time 

Meanwhile, all the participants have been fitted with a host of radar to give data to scientists on the outside. Christian Clot and his group are anxious to witness how the mind will react to loss of all sense of time. 

Christian Clot, as a participant himself is not a stranger to pushing boundaries. The adventurer has long been meddling as to how severe environments have impact on physical functions and mental perception of a person. Clot has also joined 30 major trips to places like the Chilean Cordillera Darwin mountain range. 

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