Biosphere 2: Classic or Dud?

No, because it was a disaster, like the movie.

IN 1991, eight researchers in dark blue Star Trek-style uniforms entered Biosphere 2 - a vast terrarium in the Arizona desert north of Tucson — hoping to spend two years inside without importing food, water or even air. The goal was to see whether the sealed environment, considered a microcosm of the Earth's, could become self-sustaining.

As it turns out, the real science experiment was going on outside, as development conquered vast swaths of the Sonoran Desert. The Biosphere, miles from nowhere when it was built in the 1980's, is now within the reach of a building boom streaking north from Tucson and south from Phoenix (and which some demographers say will eventually join the two cities, once 100 miles apart).

The Biosphere was designed to simulate the Earth's environment. By succumbing to sprawl, it may have done just that.

After spending a reported $200 million on the Biosphere, the Texas oil heir Ed Bass is about to sell the building and its surrounding 1,658 acres to Fairfield Homes of Tucson.

Richard Foerster of Tucson Realty & Trust, a veteran broker in the area, estimated to be worth about $25,000 an acre, or $40 million. At that price, Mr. Bass would be losing at least $160 million.

Martin Bowen, the president of Decisions Investments, a holding company controlled by Mr. Bass, said that there were "ongoing discussions" with Fairfield Homes about ways to save the three-acre Biosphere building, and that Mr. Bass would "prefer that it be used for the purpose it was built for."

But, Mr. Bowen said, Mr. Bass's contract with Fairfield does not require the buyer to preserve the structure. That means, he said, that "when the deal closes, probably later this year, our options for saving the Biosphere will be over."

It could be replaced by a housing development called Biosphere Estates. In January, Fairfield registered that name and a number of variants with the State of Arizona.

i thought of the biosphere for the first time in a long time last night. what's going on with the biosphere?

recording albums in tibet AFAIK

instantrimshot.jpg

(Good albums, though.)

Anyway looks like the University of Arizona uses it for various things.

Not to invade from the NN thread, but I think the real scientific merit of Ed Bass's folly may be that it was the first long term experiment on the effects of calorie restriction on humans. While there have been over a hundred studies on CR, the closest analogue to human was the 20 year (so far) experiments with Rhesus monkeys. Biosphere 2 was sort of a preview for the current CALERIE study.

What it looks like now

http://farm5.static.flickr.com/4004/4193769073_f9f75db046_o.jpg

http://farm3.static.flickr.com/2696/4193769369_f42fca2eb2_o.jpg

amazing stuff. some of the plants appear to be doing just fine.

What a revive!

Political Notebook: Trump point man's bullying goes back to Biosphere
http://tucson.com/news/local/columnists/steller/article_65d7fb0e-54d0-5823-83dc-3f37f735bfed.html

The name Steve Bannon may not mean much to most people in Southern Arizona, but to those involved in Biosphere 2, it brings back memories of a troubled time.

Bannon, as you may know, is the new head of Donald Trump’s presidential campaign. Bannon, previously an investment banker and movie maker, arrived there from Breitbart News, an online outlet founded by the late Andrew Breitbart that has become the Voice of Trump over the last year.

Long before, though, Bannon was deeply involved in Biosphere 2. And, as in his more recent activities, Bannon apparently acted the bully around the enclosed mini-world near Oracle.

On April 1, 1994, financier Ed Bass, after spilling tens of millions more dollars than expected on the project, moved to take it over from the original management team and partner John Allen.

Bannon acted, essentially, as the heavy for Bass, Tucson attorney Larry Hecker recalled when I asked him Thursday. Hecker represented the original management and was away watching the UA basketball team in the Final Four when sheriff’s deputies and federal officers arrived at the Pinal County site to serve legal notice of the ouster that day.

Bannon, Hecker said, “was the new sheriff, or dictator.”

Bannon’s actions soon ended up as part of a civil suit filed by some of the original Biospherians against the new guard. In court, he admitted speaking angry words that echo some more recent accusations against him.

Back then, the Tucson Citizen reported, citing court testimony, he vowed to kick the ass of Abigail Alling, one of the original Biospherians, who returned from Japan to warn those still inside about the takeover. When Alling wrote a statement spelling out her concerns about safety in the Biosphere, he threatened to “ram it down her (expletive) throat.”

Bannon also called Alling a “self-centered, deluded young woman” and a “bimbo.” Those were just a few of the alarming anecdotes from his reign.

This year, when a female Breitbart reporter accused Trump’s previous campaign manager, Corey Lewandoski, of assault, Bannon essentially banished her. That prompted another Breitbart writer, Ben Shapiro, to resign and pen a statement lamenting that, “In my opinion, Steve Bannon is a bully, and has sold out Andrew (Breitbart’s) mission in order to back another bully, Donald Trump.”

Steve Bannon’s departure from the Biosphere 2 in the 1990s was not the last Bannon involvement there. His brother Chris has remained an administrator up until recent years and still works for the UA’s College of Science, which now runs Biosphere 2.

Anyone watch the documentary yet?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mGvYFB6GHRY