Submarine Drift Revealed How Human Body Clocks Work
About this episode
The episode discusses the groundbreaking research conducted by the submarine *Ben Franklin* that revealed insights into human body clocks.
# May 3, 1968: The Submarine Surfaced and Changed Medicine Forever On May 3, 1968, something extraordinary happened beneath the waves of the Atlantic Ocean that would revolutionize our understanding of the human body and transform modern medicine. The research submarine *Ben Franklin* (PX-15) began its epic month-long drift dive in the Gulf Stream, carrying six men into the deep for what would become one of the most ambitious oceanographic experiments ever conducted. But here's the kicker: while ostensibly studying ocean currents, this mission became an accidental goldmine for medical science, particularly our understanding of human circadian rhythms and what happens when you remove all normal time cues from the human experience. The *Ben Franklin* was a mesoscaphe—essentially a drift submarine designed by the famous Auguste Piccard (yes, the inspiration for *Star Trek's* Captain Picard). The vessel was 50 feet long and looked like a giant yellow suppository with portholes. For 30 days, the crew would drift with the Gulf Stream from Florida to Nova Scotia, submerged at depths of 600-2000 feet, with no ability to surface and only sporadic radio contact. Jacques Piccard (Auguste's…
Topics covered
- human circadian rhythms
- oceanographic experiments
- submarine research
- medical science
- isolation studies
- NASA missions
Keywords
- circadian rhythms
- submarine
- Ben Franklin
- ocean currents
- medical research
- isolation
- NASA
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: NASA
Books & works: Star Trek
Places: Atlantic Ocean, Gulf Stream, Florida, Nova Scotia
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