isolation in the cave (NEWS)

A group of 15 French volunteers emerged from the cave after a 40-day study examining the limits of a person's ability to adapt to isolation. Participants lived in the Lombrows Cave in France without phones, watches or sunlight. They slept in tents, produced their own electricity and had no contact with the outside world.

The aim of the project was to test how people react to the loss of a sense of time and space. The Deep Time experiment ended on Saturday, April 24, allowing eight men and seven women between the ages of 27 and 50 to leave the cave.

Scientists who observed the project entered the cave the day before to tell participants that the project was nearing completion. Before going outside, the group put on sunglasses to give their eyes time to get used to the sunlight.

Project director and scientist Christian Kloten says the time in the cave is slower. One of the volunteers, 33-year-old Marina Lanson, says that time has passed like a waiting pause in life.

In isolation, the group had to organize tasks without being able to measure time to set deadlines. Instead, they had to rely on their biological clock and sleep cycles to structure the day.

 In the cave they had some modern amenities. For example, they could generate their own electricity with a pedal bicycle and draw water from a well at a depth of 45 m underground.

Scientists say the project will help understand how people can adapt to extreme living conditions. Participants' brain activity and cognitive functions were analyzed before entering the cave to collect data for comparative studies after they left.