Could you survive without your smartphone? Could you live in a cave for 40 days? Fifteen people did just that. They took part in a project called Deep Time to see if they could totally disconnect from the modern world. Scientists examined how they adapted to basic living conditions in a cave with no sunlight for six weeks. They had no contact with the outside world. They only had their body clock to know when to wake up, go to sleep and eat.
Most volunteers enjoyed the total isolation. They wanted to stay underground longer to finish projects they had started. Deep Time's director said the experience would, "test humans' ability to adapt to the loss of their frame of reference for time and space". He said: "Our future as humans on this planet will evolve. We must learn to better understand how our brains are capable of finding new solutions, whatever the situation."