What We Learned from Experiment About Human Survival on Alien Planets

Bright Side

You know how we're all dreaming about living on other planets someday? Well, turns out, to make that happen, we need to get creative with some enclosed ecosystems called biospheres. Enter Biosphere 2—a real-life experiment that aimed to create just that, complete with thousands of plants and animals and a handful of brave souls living under one roof. But despite all the high hopes and grand plans, this project hit a few bumps in the road. We're talking unexpected challenges like fluctuating oxygen levels, crop failures, and even tensions among the crew. It's like a real-life sci-fi drama unfolding right before our eyes!

Transcript

00:00It was 1994. It was dark, so no one saw two silhouettes opening the emergency exits of a

00:07glass dome complex in Arizona known as Biosphere 2. They were determined to free seven people

00:13locked inside for a month, risking their lives in the name of science. The mission was accomplished,

00:18but they got hit with trespassing and vandalism charges. The vandals were Abigail Ayling and Mark

00:24Banfello. They were among the first eight poor devils who lived in that place as guinea pigs,

00:29and they didn't want anyone else to go through the same horrors they had experienced.

00:34$150 million were spent to see if humans could create suitable living conditions on other planets,

00:40like Mars. To do this, scientists built a mini-world with over 3,000 species of plants and animals.

00:47Biosphere 2 was a sealed-off 3-acre habitat, complete with its own mini-rainforest,

00:53a private beach with a coral reef, a grassland savanna, a marsh, and even a desert.

00:59Between 1991 and 1993, nothing could enter or exit that place. The group of eight people

01:06locked inside called themselves Biospherians, rocking matching Star Trek-like jumpsuits,

01:12growing their own food, and breathing their own air. They began with high hopes and a five-star

01:17hotel-style breakfast, but things took a darker turn over the months.

01:23The whole team was starving and turning orange. In Biosphere 1, which is the real Earth,

01:28you can order a pizza in two minutes. But inside Biosphere 2, it took them an endless four months

01:35to whip up a margarita-style pie. They had to harvest wheat for the dough and milk goats for

01:41the cheese. The goal was to be completely self-sufficient, and they became part of an atmosphere,

01:46quite literally. When they breathed out, their CO2 fed the sweet potatoes they were growing.

01:52And those sweet potatoes became part of them since they were essentially eating the same

01:57carbons over and over again. They had so many sweet potato feasts that their skin actually turned

02:02orange from all the excess beta-carotene. What seemed like a funny situation at the time

02:08highlighted a big issue. The crop yields in Biosphere 2 were a total disappointment,

02:13and the crew was starving. They were going crazy from hunger, and moments of sudden anger led to

02:20doing regrettable things, like stealing bananas from the basement storeroom. At some point,

02:25the freezer had to be locked. Over the first six months, each of them lost between 18 and 58 pounds

02:31of weight. Every day, someone took charge of weighing out fresh food for the cook, logging the information

02:38about nutrients into the computer to make sure the crew hit their recommended calorie, protein,

02:43and fat goals. Initially, meals were served buffet-style. But as the crew got hungrier,

02:49the cooks started to meticulously divide their food into equal portions. Their diet, mostly sweet

02:55potatoes, carrots, fruits, and occasional meat on Sundays, were supposed to keep them going during

03:01those exhausting 80-hour work weeks of heavy physical labor. Biospherians were leaving every meal

03:07still hungry, and they had recurring dreams of McDonald's hamburgers, sushi, Snickers bars,

03:12and cheesecake. The air was running out. The entire place was completely sealed, with steel and glass at

03:20the top and a solid steel floor underneath. Managers made sure to check everything coming in to avoid

03:26synthetic materials emitting harmful gases. Living areas were furnished with wood and wool,

03:32and they couldn't use chemical deodorants or blow out birthday candles. Biospherians were counting on

03:38the food they grew and their many rainforests to produce enough oxygen for them to survive.

03:43However, they were losing oxygen very fast, drowning in their own carbon dioxide emissions,

03:49and worst of all, they had no idea why. With another nine months of the experiment to go,

03:55oxygen levels had dropped from 21% to around 15%, which feels like living at the top of Mount Fuji.

04:02They felt awful, basically dragging themselves around the biosphere. They couldn't even finish

04:07a sentence without stopping to catch a breath. Then sleep apnea kicked in, with some of them waking

04:13up gasping for air. To bring down the carbon levels inside Biosphere 2, they tried some desperate

04:19moves, like growing plants like crazy, cutting back on watering the soil as much as possible,

04:25and even giving up on tilling. Nothing worked. So everyone decided they had hit a dangerously low point,

04:31and asked for help. Refrigerated trucks showed up to pump more pure oxygen into Biosphere 2.

04:38As soon as the gas started flowing in, they burst out laughing and began running around.

04:44The ecosystem was a total mess. Hummingbirds and honeybees vanished after a couple of months,

04:50so plants weren't getting pollinated anymore. Worms and broad mites attacked crops,

04:55and cockroaches just took over. Four species of cockroaches were brought inside to recycle organic

05:01matter. But the regular household cockroach was the ultimate survivor. They somehow sneaked in and

05:07multiplied, becoming a serious threat to crops. At night, the kitchen got flooded with cockroaches as

05:13soon as the lights went out. To combat the infestation, the group greased coffee mugs with lubricant

05:19and put pieces of papaya inside as bait. Roaches would climb inside, but they couldn't scale the

05:25slippery sides to escape. Being hungry, lacking oxygen, dealing with bug infestations, that's

05:32enough to make anyone go nuts. Heated arguments led to cups being thrown and people being spat at.

05:38Eventually, the whole group just split into two. They stopped talking and could walk right past one

05:44another in the hallways without even making eye contact. Half of them wanted more food and oxygen

05:50to continue the research with some dignity, while the other half believed in survival without external

05:55help, no matter the costs. The truth is, the sealed chamber had been breached long before that.

06:02Just two weeks after they got inside, a biospherian named Jane Pointer cut off the tip of her finger

06:08in a cooking accident while making rice. The mission's doctor tried sewing the tip back on,

06:12but it didn't work, and her finger turned black within days. She went to a hospital outside for

06:18surgery, and a couple hours later, she sneaked back inside, carrying a duffel bag filled with

06:24supplies like computer parts and color film. Reporters would only learn of that sneaky delivery months

06:30later, and because of that, many people have questioned the credibility of the entire experiment.

06:36Media treated the experiment like a reality show, branding it as trendy ecological entertainment.

06:42Headline news around the world made it sound as if they were on the brink of losing their lives,

06:47to the point where families were concerned, calling the biospherians to check if they were really okay.

06:53The group felt like they were in a human zoo, with tourists coming from far away to peer into

06:58the glass cage. In the first six months alone, more than 150,000 people visited the place.

07:05Biosphere 2 ended up becoming a pop culture punchline, inspiring a comedy movie called

07:10Biodome and decades of funny sketches. You might be wondering why none of them quit the experiment

07:17and walked out the front door. Well, none of the environmentalists wanted to be the first to admit

07:22it was too much to handle. Plus, they were all still hopeful they could somehow crack the puzzle

07:27of building Earth number two. By the end, they had managed to find seven tons of missing oxygen.

07:33It had been absorbed by the concrete. Even though being breathless all the time might seem like the

07:38biggest challenge they face, the biospherians said that learning how to deal with people in a

07:44closed environment was even harder. It looks like the experiment was a huge failure, but the group did

07:50learn a lot of valuable lessons. They proved that a sealed ecosystem could work for years.

07:56They contributed to studies on reef restoration, and their farms showed that high productivity

08:01and full nutrient recycling could be achieved without toxic chemicals. In case you wondered,

08:07this wasn't the end of the glass complex. The second mission inside Biosphere 2 took place in March

08:131994. Now you can go back to the beginning of the video to understand how that worked out.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended