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Caving scientists exploring the darkest places on Earth

Blind spiders and whip scorpions, the future of climate change, photosynthesis in the dark – here's what the deepest places on Earth can reveal about life and the universe.

Feeling the cool clear water of the River Axe as it flows out from Wookey Hole Cave, Phil Short says: "I want to get in" (Credit: Fran Gomez de Villaboa) We are standing in a room full of metal cabinets, part of the Oxford University Natural History Museum's Life Collections, which hold 5.5 million insect specimens. "On the top flat of the mountain, we made base camp – tents scattered through the jungle, walkways in between and a big tarpaulin communal covered area with a fire pit," says Short.

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