THE DEEP TIME PROJECT
Can you imagine living in a cave deep under the ground for 40 days, without any communication with the outside world? That's exactly what 15 people in France did. They volunteered to participate in a scientific experiment called the Deep Time Project. There wasn't any natural light from the sun, moon or stars in the cave. In addition, the participants had no watches or cellphones with them. The scientists wanted to find out how living under very unusual and difficult conditions affects people.(lines 1–9)
The volunteers, all between the ages of 27 and 50, lived 50 meters deep underground, in a dark, cold cave. They had several tasks to do while they were in the cave. For example, they had to produce their own electricity and even find their own water. The scientists in charge of the project used special equipment to observe the volunteers from a laboratory outside the cave. The most important finding was that all the participants soon lost their sense of time. Without natural light and without watches, they didn't know whether it was day or night or how much time they spent doing their tasks. Normally, people wake up in the morning when it is light and go to sleep when it is dark. In the cave, they went to sleep whenever they felt tired or when they completed their tasks.(lines 10–18)
When the volunteers came out of the cave, they were surprised to learn that they had been there for 40 days. Michelle Sagan, for example, thought that she was there for only 19 days. It seems that the experiment had almost no negative effects on the volunteers. They only lost their sense of time while they were in the cave. Very soon afterwards, they got used to their regular lives again.(lines 19–23)
Hopefully, the findings of this experiment will be used to improve the living conditions of workers who must spend a long time under the ground. And in the future, they can be useful in planning long journeys into space.(lines 24–26)