In 1991, eight people and nearly 4000 carefully chosen other organisms (plus cockroaches and invasive ants) were sealed inside a $200 million dollar vivarium in the Arizona desert, with the object of surviving in a completely closed ecological system. Over the following two years and twenty minutes, they endured hunger, paranoia, bad weather, depression, and less-than-flattering media reports; they also proved that humans could work together while hating each other, and pioneered some extremely efficient agricultural systems. Join us as we examine the Biosphere 2 project from the inside out, with special sidebars on Biospherian ants, anticapitalism sabotage, community theater people, oxygen problems, and what happens to your skin when the majority of your calories come from carrots, papaya, and sweet potatos.

Sources for this episode include:

“Pushing Our Limits: Insights from Biosphere 2” by M. Nelson, 2018

“The Human Experiment: Two Years and Twenty Minutes Inside Biosphere 2”, J. Poynter, 2006

“Take This Terrarium and Shove It”, M. Cooper, Village Voice, 1991

“Biosphere's image: rise, fall, and rehabilitation”, S. Veggeberg, Metanews, Columbia University, 1995

"The Lost History of One of the World’s Strangest Science Experiments: The hummingbirds were dying. Cockroaches were everywhere. And then Steve Bannon showed up", C. Zimmer, New York Times, 2019

“Biosphere 2” website, University of Arizona, 2021

“'Bon voyage' 8 Biospherians Begin Journey in Greenhouse”, J. Erickson, Arizona Daily Star, 1991