2023-07-10 18:09:55
By Marc Cherki
Posted yesterday at 6:00 p.m., Updated yesterday at 6:09 p.m.
Daily progress in the Nefoud desert. Credits: Human Adaptation Institute, Lucas Santucci.
After the Guyanese forest and Lapland, it was the last of three expeditions to study the adaptation of man to extreme climatic conditions.
Twenty explorers returned on June 22 from Saudi Arabia, where they traveled for nearly 40 days, 250 kilometers in the hot and dry desert of Nefud. A stay of biblical duration, where each of the 20 members of the team had to take turns to pull one of the 17 carts of nearly 200 kg which were used to convey water, drunk at the rate of 8 liters per day, food, equipment and scientific materials.
This is the third and final expedition of the “climatonautes”, a neologism which alone sums up the ambition of Deep Climate. This cycle of adventures in extreme climatic conditions was imagined by Christian Clot, who presents himself as a Franco-Swiss researcher, with a degree in cognitive sciences « on adapting » and founder, in 2014, of the “Human Adaptation Institute”. A “climatonaut” is therefore an adventurer in extreme climatic conditions, such as those that France could experience in 2100 and which are sometimes those of populations in certain regions of the world, such as in Pakistan, in the spring of 2022, where the temperature rose to 51 °C.
Read alsoChristian Clot, confined for 40 days in a cave: “At the end of the experience, we did not want to go out”
In the case of the Saudi expedition, as in the two previous adventures in the extreme cold of Finnish Lapland (from February 20 to April 4) or in the hot and humid environment of the equatorial forest of Guyana (from December 5, 2022 to January 16, 2023), the explorers have chosen to participate in “ experiments to advance science », explains in particular Nicolas Ngo, 41 years old. This former professor of mathematics, who left his post at the Ministry of Research to embark on a story that « helps raise awareness », participated in all three expeditions. For him, the most difficult experience was the trip to Guyana, with humidity levels of 100%. Another faithful adventurer, Mathilde Clémont, also in her forties, in charge of communication and marketing at the NGO Earth & humanism, who resides in the south of the Ardèche.
She was selected in 2016, « during a call for volunteers to prove that humans are capable of adapting to extreme conditions in a collective ». She dreaded the strong heat of the desert the most and admits to having been disconcerted by the strong gusts of wind « who took the lead » and the mandatory break periods, between 10 a.m. and 5 p.m., when the temperature exceeded 40°C in the shade and forced the team to take refuge under tarpaulins, until the extreme heat subsided.
Partnerships with 18 laboratories and universities
For the team, the priority was to measure how the human, « faced with a level of change never seen in history, can adapt especially at the cognitive level », says Christian Clot. Its objective is to create a body of knowledge on « physical and mental health » in the face of extreme conditions, from – 30°C to + 50°C, of people who are not adapted to these temperatures. For example, there is no question of taking a native of Amazonia on the Guyanese expedition, because he is already adapted to the humid heat. For the scientific aspect of the expeditions, partnerships have been established with 18 laboratories and universities.
This is particularly the case with Inserm’s Computational Cognitive Neuroscience Laboratory, hosted by the École Normale Supérieure in Paris, but also with Onera (aeronautical research), to study the phenomena of memory, attention and brain plasticity in extreme environments. Studies have also been conducted on physiology and sleep, in conjunction with the University of Caen and the Faculty of Medicine of Tours, or genetics with the University of Aix-Marseille.
No scientific results have yet been released. They should be known from the fall. But, by means of experiments carried out in the field through a « fifty scientific protocols »Christian Clot is already advancing that it is necessary « environ 36 days to adapt to the new conditions » climatic. And « the adaptation process is difficult to do if there is no wonder or feel-good experiences » to climatonauts. He assures that, in the cold, “ the collective heats up », unlike very hot environments. Faced with extreme conditions, it is not reassuring to be alone. But, in the hell of the heat, the group is able to handle any problem.
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