This crazy scientific experiment trapped eight men and women in a greenhouse to live for two years, allowing millions of people to visit...
There have been many crazy scientific experiments in history.
However, the "Biosphere 2" in the 1990s might be the most romantic and ambitious one among them. Its original intention of construction was to mimic "Biosphere 1", which is our Earth.
Built at a cost of $150 million, "Biosphere 2" is a futuristic building enclosed by glass, looking like a large greenhouse.
It is located in Arizona, USA, covering an area of one hectare, about the size of a standard playground.
The design drawing of "Biosphere 2". (Image source: The Institute of Ecotechnics)
Between 1991 and 1993, four men and four women lived in it in isolation for two years. They grew their own crops, raised livestock, and recycled all air and water.
At that time, people thought that the exploration of "Biosphere 2" could prepare for humanity's future interstellar voyages.
It was not until the behind - the - scenes stories of "Biosphere 2" were gradually revealed that people realized that this was a failed, over - hyped, and half - hearted scientific experiment.
The Second Earth
The prototype of "Biosphere 2" actually didn't have much scientific nature. It originated from an experimental community in New Mexico, USA, where people lived a simple life. They grew their own crops and did some experimental drama in their free time.
Later, they wanted to establish a new community that could combine the ecosystem with technology and achieve self - sufficiency. This idea was supported financially by the son of an oil tycoon in Texas.
In 1984, the construction of "Biosphere 2" began in the desert of Arizona.
Biosphere 2 was built in the desert. (Image source: Mark Nelson)
The Space Biospheres Ventures, which was in charge of this project, announced that it would be an enclosed space where organisms would thrive.
After its completion, "Biosphere 2" really looked like a small Earth.
It had various ecosystems such as land, ocean, wetland, desert, and grassland, although they were all miniaturized.
To make these ecological environments more realistic, engineers spent a great deal of effort creating tides in the ocean, ensuring the correct temperature and precipitation in the tropical rainforest, and even trying to create a gentle breeze inside.
The mini - ocean in "Biosphere 2". (Image source: The Institute of Ecotechnics)
Besides, more than 3,800 species of animals and plants lived in "Biosphere 2". In addition to the chickens, goats, and pigs raised by humans, there were also wild animals such as hummingbirds and lemurs. There were as many as 80 kinds of crops that humans could grow, including rice, yams, peanuts, beets, wheat, carrots, peppers, tomatoes, kale, eggplants, onions, sweet potatoes, potatoes, pumpkins, etc.
In addition, the designers introduced insects to decompose organic waste, and the sewage was treated and recycled.
The crew members were growing crops and raising goats. (Image source: TED)
On the morning of September 26, 1991, "Biosphere 2" was officially launched. Eight crew members wearing blue jumpsuits, like astronauts in science - fiction movies, gave inspiring speeches in front of a large number of media and cameras.
"I will breathe the Earth's air for the last time, because I know that I will be breathing in a different atmosphere for the next two years." Crew member Jane Poynter recalled. It was like they were going on a space mission.
But in fact, none of the eight crew members were astronauts. Some were botanists, some were marine biologists, some had backgrounds in animal husbandry and engineering, and there was even a surgeon. Under the attention of the global media, the eight people walked into this giant glass house and started a two - year enclosed life.
Jane Poynter's speech before entering the biosphere. (Image source: "Guide to Future Roaming")
The life in "Biosphere 2" was not leisurely. In fact, the crew members were very busy.
Crew member Mark Nelson later calculated their time allocation and found that they spent at least a quarter of their time growing crops. Other activities included 20% on research and maintenance, 19% on writing reports, 12% on cooking, 11% on biosphere management, and 9% on animal husbandry. They also had to accept media interviews and handle various things in the remaining time.
Outside the greenhouse, millions of tourists and students took buses there every year and watched their every move through the glass with great interest. One crew member remembered that the famous anthropologist Jane Goodall also visited. "Her expression was like she was observing primates."
The crew members looked at the tourists through the glass. (Image source: TED)
The Disappearing Oxygen
Everything in "Biosphere 2" seemed so wonderful. Later, the media and the public learned that the company operating "Biosphere 2" actually concealed a lot of information. The biggest lie was its enclosure. Just two weeks after "Biosphere 2" was launched, something went wrong.
When crew member Jane Poynter was using a thresher, she accidentally cut off part of her fingertip. The on - standby doctor gave her emergency treatment, but she still needed to be sent to the hospital for surgery. A few hours later, Jane Poynter returned to the glass house, but no media knew about this "stowaway operation".
Later, journalists discovered more and more facts, and people began to feel deceived.
It turned out that the staff of "Biosphere 2" provided the crew members with various supplies twice a month, including crop seeds, vitamins for the crew members, and tools for catching cockroaches and mice. Moreover, in the first few months after the crew members moved in, due to frequent rainy days and poor crop harvests, they directly got food from the storage room.
Even so, the crew members often went hungry. Mark Nelson remembered that he lost about 11 kilograms. When he was the hungriest, he even ate peanut shells.
The farm in the biosphere. (Image source: The Institute of Ecotechnics)
The other organisms in the biosphere didn't fare well either.
Hummingbirds and bees "went extinct" in "Biosphere 2", resulting in the inability of crops to be pollinated. And the cockroaches, which were originally introduced to decompose feces, reproduced wildly and almost ate up all the crops.
However, the biggest threat to the crew members was not hunger, but breathing. Somehow, the oxygen content in the air of "Biosphere 2" gradually decreased, from the initial 21% to a minimum of 14.2%. Such thin oxygen made the crew members feel like they were living at an altitude of 4,500 meters.
The crew members recalled the situation at that time. (Image source: "Guide to Future Roaming")
Some of the crew members began to have sleep apnea, and some needed to stop and catch their breath in the middle of speaking a long sentence. Everyone tried to slow down their movements and not consume any extra energy.
Since there was a concern that a further decrease in the oxygen content would affect the crew members' health, the staff injected pure oxygen into "Biosphere 2". For a moment, the crew members were so happy that they danced and shouted and ran around crazily. Mark Nelson described it as if a 90 - year - old man had returned to his youth. Later, through research, it was found that the concrete in the biosphere absorbed carbon dioxide, resulting in a decrease in the oxygen content. This was a design flaw.
The curve of the decreasing oxygen concentration in "Biosphere 2". (Image source: William Dempster)
Not to mention that "Biosphere 2" had a fatal flaw - it failed to solve the energy problem.
Although it used some solar energy, in fact, "Biosphere 2" never cut off the power supply. The operation of all the machines, light sources, and ecosystems inside still relied on a large amount of electrical energy provided from the outside.
"Biosphere 2" was positioned in the publicity as the world's first artificial biosphere and a scientific experiment for enclosed testing, but in fact, it relied on electrical energy and material supplements everywhere and failed to achieve carbon and oxygen cycles. It cost a huge amount of money, manpower, and material resources to build, manage, and operate, but it couldn't provide enough air, water, and food for just eight people.
No wonder "Biosphere 2" was ridiculed and condemned after it ended. Some people called it pseudoscience, and some directly pointed out that it was just a reality show under the control of capital, a novel form of entertainment.
Now, "Biosphere 2" is still used for scientific research. (Image source: science photo library)
Later, "Biosphere 2" was donated to the University of Arizona, and researchers are still conducting research inside. But "Biosphere 2" is not completely useless. Some scientists designed an ecological ball based on it, which is a sealed small ball containing small shrimps, algae, microorganisms, and water, and can be self - sufficient only with sunlight.
Some scientists also saw the positive significance of this experiment. Ecologist William Schlesinger believes that everything we know about ecosystems is based on descriptive work, and "Biosphere 2" is a precious practice, and its influence cannot be ignored.
References
[1]John Allen, Mark Nelson. Biospherics and Biosphere 2, mission one (1991–1993). Ecological Engineering 13 (1999) 15–29
[2]"The Lost History Of One Of The World’S Strangest Science Experiments (Published 2019)". 2019. Nytimes.Com.
[3]"ULTIMATE SURVIVAL: DESERT DREAMERS BUILD A MAN - MADE WORLD (Published 1986)". 1986. Nytimes.Com.
[4]Schlesinger, William H. 2018. "A Noosphere". Bioscience 68 (9): 722-723.
[5]"Eight Go Mad In Arizona: How A Lockdown Experiment Went Horribly Wrong". 2020. The Guardian.
[6]"Biosphere 2: What Really Happened?". 2022. Dartmouth Alumni Magazine.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychological_stress_and_sleep