Episode description
In 1991, a billion-dollar experiment took place, designed to see if humans could survive in an artificial earth inside a giant glass dome that would eventually be built on other planets. Years was spent building Biosphere 2 in the USA, and inside was an ocean with actual tides and waves, a rainforest, a desert, vast wetlands, a farm with crops, animals, housing and laboratories. ‘Rain’ could even be switched on and off. Eight Humans lived inside it for TWO YEARS. So why has hardly anybody has heard of it? Because it was a disaster, none of it worked, and they nearly died. Turns out, despite sounding impressive, this experiment wasn’t run by NASA or even scientists, it was run by a bunch of hippies from a cult-like experimental theatre group who had no clue what they were doing, but had duped a billionaire into giving them a lot of money.
We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there’s this:
The documentary Spaceship Earth (in Aus you can rent or buy it on YouTube or Amazon Prime): https://youtu.be/ySQU8kzmZBo
The current Biosphere 2 website (run by the University of Arizona): https://biosphere2.org/
Some great articles: https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/sunday-review/biosphere-2-climate-change.htmlhttps://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jul/13/spaceship-earth-arizona-biosphere-2-lockdownhttps://www.history.com/.amp/news/biosphere-2-spaceship-earth
Awesome footage from inside: https://www.pbs.org/video/good-stuff-nature-biosphere/https://youtu.be/eZcLeF4XM1I
You can visit! (Well, you know, when we can travel again…): https://news.arizona.edu/biosphere-2
Skip right to the story: approx 28:58
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