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French volunteers emerged from the cave after spending 40 days without a clock or phone.
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They participated in the Deep Time project. The limit of human isolation.
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Two-thirds of the group want to stay in the cave longer.
15 volunteers emerged from the cave South west France After spending 40 days without a clock, phone or sunlight for a human isolation experiment.
A group of eight men and seven women lived in Lom Breeze Cave as part of a $ 1.4 million project. Deep time, Embarked to explore the limits of human adaptability to quarantine. The project, led by the Human Adaptation Institute, ended on Saturday, 40 days later.
Social media footage from that day Shows a smiling volunteer who applauds from the cave while wearing special sunglasses to protect his eyes for a long time in the dark.
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While in the cave, the volunteers slept in a tent and made their own electricity on a pedal bike because there was no natural light. They also pumped water from a well 146 feet underground.
Because it wasn’t in the sun, the team needed to keep track of their body clocks to know when to sleep, eat, and do their daily work.
Not surprisingly, they quickly lost their sense of time.
Project director Christian Clot, who was also a member of the group, told reporters on Saturday: According to the Guardian.
One volunteer said he thought he was underground for 23 days.
This group had no communication with the outside world and was unable to use telephones or other electronic devices.
One volunteer math teacher, Johann Francois, said he ran a six-mile circle in the cave to stay healthy. He told reporters that there was a “visceral urge” to leave the cave. According to the BBC.
But other volunteers felt different, with two-thirds saying they wanted to stay in the cave longer.
“It was as if we could push a pause once in our lives,” said Marina Lanson, one of the seven women who participated in the experiment, according to The Guardian. “Once in our lives, we had time and were able to stop living and working. It was great.”
However, Lanson admitted that he was happy to be outdoors and hear the birds chirping again.
French and Swiss scientists at the Human Adaptation Institute carefully monitored volunteers while in the cave. They regularly checked the team’s sleep patterns, social interactions, and cognitive function through sensors.
Volunteer brain activity was also collected before and after entering the cave.
The scientists behind the project say it helps people adapt to extreme living conditions and understand how they are completely isolated.
“Our future as humans on this planet will evolve,” Clot said after coming out of the cave. “Regardless of the situation, we need to learn to better understand how the brain finds new solutions.”
Read the original article Business insider