Wednesday, Aug. 29

Living in Antarctica in what I call the Worst Winter in the World can be likened to living through the ice age — surrounded by ice, in extreme temperatures, reliant on available food and warmth for survival. Living in the darkness, with various sleep difficulties, I have observed and documented changes in my own and fellow crew members’ day-night cycles over the past eight months, and I have noticed a strange change in my perception in the passing of time.

In the 1960s and 1970s, important research was performed by a Frenchman, Michel Siffre, who in studying the effects of living underground in various caves for prolonged periods discovered the biology of time. This led to greater understanding of internal body clocks and cycles, now recognized as the scientific field of human chronobiology.

 

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[button link=”http://scientistatwork.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/09/06/lost-in-time-in-the-antarctic-ice-age/” color=”silver” window=”yes”]The New York Times – Lost in Time in the Antarctic Ice Age[/button]

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