GLACIAR GROWNS US ALPES
An unusual experience of geologist Michel Siffre eventually inspired the creation of chronobiology, which studies biological rhythms.
In 1962, French geologist Michel Siffre emerged from a glacier cave in the French Alps after passing 63 days isolated in the total darkness. Without knowledge, the scientist has just created the foundations of the modern science of chronobiology, the study of biological rhythms.
At only 23 years old, Siffre embarked on what he intended to be a geological expedition in the Scarasson cave. However, it decided to go further, committing itself to Living without clock, sunlight or human contact for two months. Its goal was to observe what the human body’s perception of time is when it is turned off from all external tracks.
The experience was distressing. In the cold and moist cave, Siffre endured wet clothes, dangerously low body temperatures and deep mental fatigue. “I decided to live like an animal”He described later. However, it was this extreme isolation that led to its revolutionary discovery: the Human body has an internal clock that works regardless of the sun.
Siffre found that his sleep and wakeful cycle began to deviate from the typical 24-hour rhythm. Initially, its “days” extended to 24.5 hours and, at the time of a second underground stay, a decade later, was agreed for 36 hours at a timefollowed by 12 hours of sleep. In both cases, he completely lost the notion of real time, believing that he was still missing a month in the cave when, in fact, the experience was over.
Their findings challenged the assumptions of the scientific community and helped to launch the chronobiology fieldwith later studies that influenced everything, from cancer treatment strategies to space travel and submarine missions, says.
Despite the initial criticisms that their self-imposed experiences were not scientific or reckless, Siffre’s work was since then recognized for their importance.
Currently 80, Siffre’s legacy is still felt in science. “The caves They are a place of hope. It is one of the last places where it is still possible to live adventures and make new discoveries, ”he said in 2008.
