Inside Biosphere 2: Earth Science under Glass by Mary Kay Carson (review)

It was an exciting and audacious idea way, way back in 1991: build a closed, selfsustaining environment just outside of Tuscon, Arizona and seal eight intrepid scientist “biospherians” inside for two years to test it out. If it works, we would have come far in understanding how to sustain life as colonizers of Mars. Unfortunately, it didn’t work; oxygen had to be supplied, and “feuding and fighting among the biospherians piled on stress.” The facility, however, was repurposed as a laboratory, uniquely adapted to hosting controlled experiments in its varied environments. Here Carson highlights the work of three scientists: Joost Van Harten, who studies oxygen/carbon dioxide exchange in the micro rainforest; Rafe Sagarin, who is replicating the Gulf of California in the ocean building in order to study marine biodiversity; and Luke Pangle, whose artificial watershed helps scientists understand soil creation and erosion. Even the facility itself, under the management of Nate Allen, functions as a laboratory for such sustainable technologies as solar panels and smarter energy usage. The four main chapters, though interrelated, can be read or studied separately, making this a particularly useful title for multiple curricular investigations. End matter comprises a glossary, index, and chapter notes with selected bibliographies, and suggestions for further research. For readers who are more captivated by Biosphere 2’s past, insets on the biospherians and suggestions for print and online resources are also included.