SYSK Live in Nashville: The Biosphere II Experiment | STUFF YOU SHOULD KNOW

[Music]. welcome to stuff you should know a. production of iHeart. Radio hey and welcome to the podcast I'm. Josh Clark there's Charles W Chuck. Bryant Jerry's not here with us but all. of these beautiful people are at the. Shermer horn Symphony Center in. Nashville. [Music]. [Applause]. Tennessee.

[Applause]. man. alive that was great like I literally. can't hear right. now what. what oh no all right everyone uh I want. to talk about I can't believe by the way. that this was earlier this year doesn't. it seem like8 years ago yeah it seems. like like that blue oyster coat Ro was.

alive that's right uh in fact it was. earlier this year on the morning of. January 5th uh I met Josh at the uh. airport in Atlanta at Hartsfield at a. departure gate for what would be our. very first ever research field trip. after 15 years and we had a great time. by the way spoiler uh the flight was. booked for Tucson Arizona because Tucson. is very close to Oracle Arizona uh. specifically. 32540 uh bio spere Road in Oracle.

Arizona nothing okay good that's cool we. can work with that if you don't know. what happened at biosphere road then. strap in because you're about to hear. the story of The Biosphere 2 experiment. yes raise your hand if you have heard of. this at all oh a couple people that's. good that's about what we like uh has. anyone seen the documentary spaceship. earth it's very good if you oh right. isn't it great yeah highly recommend the.

documentary and I'll say this about 20. more times highly recommend you going to. visit the biosphere today it was really. really great if you haven't seen the. documentary most of the show probably. won't make any sense to you so right we. probably should have thought that. through we'll just talk to you. yeah so Biosphere 2 might make you think. like wait a minute what was biosphere 1. hadn't heard of it I missed it don't. worry you're actually on biosphere one.

right now because biosphere 1 is planet. Earth Biosphere 2 was a highly ambitious. um uh project to seal off a little piece. of Earth from the rest of it and uh see. what happened basically yeah and it. could have been a great many things. right depending on who you asked oh yes. I have that list right. here it could have been an incredibly. expensive piece of performance art sort. of okay we'll take that a massive hub. for Gathering scientific data not as.

massive as they intended right an. audaciously ambitious attempt to. replicate Earth for sure. okay the project that created the modern. environmental. movement I like that on the judge of all. this uh in part I will say Okay a fraud. no it wasn't a fraud a failure sort of. failure a spectacular success uh not. that either no it definitely somewhere. somewhere in the middle of those two you.

guys can be the judge of all that. yourselves cuz we're going to tell you. about the biosphere 2 project which was. born in the 80s it debuted in the early. '90s but the whole thing was rooted in. the 60s and you will see that it was. super duper rooted in the 60s because. the people involved we should just say. out front they weren't a cult it's going. to seem at various turns that yeah Guys. these people are a cult they were not a. cult we did as much research as we. possibly could and they weren't a cult.

it just seems like they were a cult they. were culty yeah cult adjacent not Ault. cult. adjacent it's like when you're reading. the real estate ads it's like they're. not in the cult neighborhood but they're. pretty close cult. J so uh like you said it was rooted um. in the 60s in particular in a city. called San Francisco California and this. was during one of their many Summers of. love that they've had over the years uh. a very Charis dramatic hippie named John.

Allen uh he went by the name Johnny. dolphin I refuse to say that. twice I call him John Allen they all had. nicknames I was about to say cute but. they really weren't that cute uh but. John Allen was kind of a magnet he was a. genius depending on who you talk to very. smart guy obviously but he was a magnet. for kind of like-minded people at the. time in' 60s San Francisco which is to. say super creative um very very smart uh. and as it turns out also very ambitious.

which could fly in the face of other. sort of hippie dippy is types out there. at the time right and like you said he. was essentially a certified genius he um. had a master's degree in Business from. Harvard not too shabby he had. um if you don't mind I have to read this. a certificate in advanced physiological. systems for engineers from University of. Michigan sounds made up but apparently. it's legit and he had a 4H. ribbon.

I thought you were going to say he had a. certificate in advanced physiological. systems for engineers from the back of a. serial. box that's what it sounds like it. definitely sounds like the kind of thing. you would get at a strip mall University. you know what I. mean uh he was also trained as a. metallurgist uh he was a Management. Consultant he was like I said super. smart guy he was he had a lot of kind of. famous hippie dippy creative smart. friends like William S Burrows uh. Buckminster Fuller in particular who had.

um he would have a pretty outsized. influence on John Allen and this project. that we're going to talk about in a. couple of ways one was the idea of. synergy that uh Bucky Fuller was really. into and as you will learn with. Biosphere 2 Synergy was a big big part. of things or it was supposed to be at. least uh and the geodesic dome which. everyone knows is Buck uh Bucky Fuller's. sort of you know pet design uh pipe. dream that became a reality yeah for. sure they incorp at into the biosphere.

that's right so this group that formed. around John Allen that was not a cult. they were hanging out in San Francisco. they they were into um creating art and. doing performance pieces and they would. put on these odd plays um under the name. the theater of all possibilities and I. don't mean odd like as an occasional I. mean like odd plays really tough to. watch um because you're watching adults. use their imagination and that is just. uncomfortable to watch and they did it a.

lot like that was kind of their thing uh. so much so they took it on the road the. touring company was called the Caravan. of dreams and you can't say either of. those names without going like this I. know those are those are written in an. arc on every poster probably so they. were uh they were doing these little and. some of these are in the documentaries. it shows some of their little. performance art pieces and it's really. something it really they say things like. free movement and stuff like that you. know. uh but they were um in San Francisco in.

the 60s and then left San Francisco. California in like 1968 because it had. gotten too commercial they were. hardcore okay that these are how sort of. out there that these people were and. they moved to New Mexico out in the. middle of nowhere and formed a little. not a cult they formed a sort of a. commun kind of thing called The synergia. Ranch yeah um and and so there they kind.

of expanded their Horizons they still. put on odd performance pieces and plays. they they cannot do that no they it was. really In Their Skin they felt the call. yeah they also started building things. too like they got interested in in just. making things with their own hands and a. really good example of what they could. do is called the research vessel. heraclitis yeah so here's the thing with. the sygan um they were all really smart. but it it's not like they took an old.

boat to make this research vessel and. they they sanded down the deck and. restained it and kind of spruced it up a. bit like I could well I couldn't do that. either actually I could try to uh they. built from scratch a ship not a boat. like a ship and they weren't ship. Builders they weren't Architects they. figured out how to do it like this is. kind of how ambitious and smart they. were there was a woman there who led the. um I guess architectural side of things. who was was not an architect named.

Margaret Augustine who's going to come. uh come back to not haunt us but she'll. come back a couple of. times is she the one back. there uh but but they were super smart. and they built this ship that is like. still sailing today yeah I mean it has. been for 50 years basically and they. again they built it from scratch no. knowledge of ship building and it was in. that kind of like can do spirit that the. biosphere project was born and the whole. idea was to build this self-sustaining.

habitat that was closed off from the. rest of earth that could sustain human. life very important and to use it to. study this new field uh called. biospherics which is creating closed. systems to study Earth's ecosystems in. kind of minute detail and it was new. because they had essentially made it up. but the whole thing had Merit because at. this time in like the early ' 80s. scientists around the world were um. starting to noticed that Earth was.

getting out of whack in a lot of. unsettling ways and had kind of. concluded that if we didn't figure out. what to do about that things would be. very bad for life on Earth very soon and. spoiler alert we did figure out what to. do about it we didn't do it and now. we're all. doomed just. FYI so uh to study something like uh. Earth ecosystem like very complex stuff. there's a couple of ways you can go. about it you can get in lab and you can.

bring stuff in and you can study it. there and in that case you're going to. get really precise measurements and. really precise data but it's not out in. the real world uh so it's you sort of. get what you get uh the other way to do. is to go out in the real world and study. stuff and people have been doing both. for a very long time and it's always. been that trade-off for science like you. go out in the real world and you're. going to get real like more natural. results but the data is not going to be. as accurate cuz you don't have all your. toys out there necessarily sure and what. biosphere offered was basically the.

chance to to kind of take the Best of. Both Worlds and do both all at once yeah. and also because it was kind of compact. in size stuff that happened out on. biosphere 1 over the course of very long. time scales happened much shorter in. biosphere 2o because it was Tiny so you. could actually track carbon Isotopes as. it made it through the carbon cycle. which is kind of useful and it would. make a bitching test bed for off off. Earth habitation. on Mars which they predicted would.

happen by. 2005 a little bit off quite there yet uh. but like here's one example of sort of. the ideas uh that they think could. spring from this was uh they thought. those just uh and we'll meet all the. biospherians soon enough uh spoiler. alert that's what they were called uh. they went from syian to biospherians but. one was named Linda Lee she was a bot. and what she wanted to accomplish there. one of the things at least was to figure. out how little tissue that you could get. like how few cells that you could.

collect and still yield a viable plant. and the idea being like one day maybe we. can have like a jungle in the size of a. shoe box that you like Jets and stuff. like add water and you get a jungle kind. of thing yeah she even brought her own. shoe box inside it being 1991 it was the. LA Gear shoe. box did you oh okay gear that was a nice. surprise I haven't heard that you. guys how about you I thought that was.

off the Dome it's still great thanks. okay so if you put all this stuff. together this is like a really good idea. that the syian had um and they were just. the kind of people to to do it as we've. seen but you can really argue that the. project would not have happened had a. guy named ed bass not been a member of. the group and he had been since I think. his early 20s he joined in 1974 and the. reason he was so important is because he. was a billionaire yeah specifically.

because you know this thing was going to. require a lot of money as we'll learn. but uh he was the son of a guy named. Perry bass and Perry bass was at the. time one of the richest dudes in the. United States he was a billionaire he. was a Texas oil tycoon and somehow had. one son that became an. environmentalist uh I don't know if he. was like The Shame of the family I do. know that that Thanksgiving was probably. a little awkward when he brought up this. idea to Pops uh I think his Perry is.

probably like uh son you going to do. what you going to give how many millions. for a bio something why can't you start. a monor league baseball team like your. brother. Bobby and that's fa Mass everyone that. was a great fa bass. everybody indeed but Ed bass was in and. he funded the thing to the tune of. between 15 and 200 million 19 what 80.

something dollars yeah it's like double. that now yeah all right double so we're. usually more accurate in our our updated. inflation conversions dou blish um so he. was actually he'd financed a lot of. projects for the group they had this. thing where he would buy um like a plot. of land somewhere in the world and they. would like build something on it or. improve it somehow and there's still. stuff around today there's the um Hotel. Vera in CMU it's a hotel they own.

there's the October Gallery in London. our Gallery yeah yep and um so they they. called it the EO preneurial spirit so. like they were hippies but they weren't. shy about making money too and that's. what this whole biosphere project was in. part to Ed bass for sure yeah because he. thought all right here's what we're. going to do we're going to launch this. massive science project which I think. ended up being at the time the single. largest uh privately funded science. project in human history MH and he said.

but here's how we can make a little. scratch off this a little uh little. cheese what do you kids say these days. what else bread I think they say bread. is bread back Little Bread little uh. simoleons sure little little. nashy yeah nashtag. nashtag nashtag EO preneurial nice all. right nailed it Jerry cut that out did. not nailed it uh so his idea was here's. where going to do we're going to start. this big project and we're going to.

eventually come up with all these all. this great data and these science ideas. that we can patent and then one day when. we need to live on Mars NASA's going to. go hey guys uh how much to license that. jungle in a box you came up with and Ed. bass would just sit back and cackle and. make a ton of money so that was one way. to make money and then they had another. great idea to make money right yeah they. were going to charge tourists $12.95 to. come gawk at the people who were sealed. off in the the biosphere facility and.

they did that's right it's all glass you. can just peer in and make fun of them. all day long kids so um they formed a. venture or LLC I guess called space. biosphere Ventures and in true sygan. fashion all these hippies who had no. experience being CEOs and directors of a. large multi-million dollar Corporation. were now exactly that that's right and. they set about getting to work um like. There Was An Architect named Phil Haws. and I believe he pulled out every tacky.

style he could think of to create this. place Chuck likes it it's amazing it. looks like the headquarters to Heaven. from a movie in the'80s. It's what it's always struck me as you. know oh that's exactly what it looks. like there's like Barrel roofs there's. that geodesic dome um the thing that. really gets it for me is everything is. made out of this like shiny powdercoated. aluminum tubing that really locks it. into like. 1990 and that's exactly what it looks. like still today it's like Buck Rogers.

in the 20th. century or or Disney's vision of uh you. know of tomorrow land basically very. much so it's very much like that except. moldy. yeah put a pin in that yeah so the plan. the original plan was for Biosphere 2 to. run for 100 years and like every couple. of years or so just cycling a new team. of biospherians to take the place the. old they would go into some like airlock.

they would swap places they would keep. it sealed cuz we'll stress that a bunch. the whole point was to keep this thing. sealed like if the problem happened they. couldn't be like well let's just open up. the doors and bring some stuff in to. help us along they really wanted to see. what it would be like and the only way. to do that was to seal it up tight so. 100 years was the original goal news. spread around the world people were. seriously jazzed I have no idea how I. missed this cuz I was like early college. at the time I knew nothing about it. somehow EX except my only thing I can. think of is I was in early college at.

the time so I wasn't sitting around. watching the news you know what I'm. saying yeah uh how do you think it's. going good I think it's going quite well. so. [Applause]. far oh yeah okay well then that means we. have to take a message break so please. bear with us that's right cuz we'll be. right. back. St in stuff with.

josua and. Char stuff you. should we're back. everybody you guys can thank Jerry for. that you go to don't buy your stuff at. the post office. uh sleep on this mattress or by the uh. was it the 2012 Camry. yes oh you guys still hear that one.

anyone some of the old ones are you I. don't know what salesperson made that. forever deal that was quite a deal yeah. that won't go. away all right so finally we're back. everyone thanks for coming uh finally. finally finally on September 26th 1991. eight people four men and four women who. we will meet very shortly called the. biospherians began their first what to. be a 2-year mission of the 100-year.

experiment and were sealed off a big. press thing they wore these uh Mor for. orc space suit jumpsuit things very very. weird for real like broad shoulders. cinched at the waist they're like don't. forget we left San Francisco for New. Mexico in the late 60s that's how. hardcore we are that's right just want. to drive that home and I think also. somebody was playing the flute as they. enter so flst if I'm not mistaken uh the. kind of when you watch the dock it's.

kind of funny cuz they couldn't get the. door to seal at first and everyone was. like oh that's the whole point no no. they couldn't open it that's what it was. it was too sealed and they were all just. standing there kind of like this but. they got in they sealed themselves in. and uh here were the eight biospherians. oh me uh I knew it was me I'm just. teasing first up is Mark Nelson we. mentioned him first because he was I. guess considered the cap captain of the. team um mostly because he was the truest.

believer of this group of True Believers. because they had selected from the group. of cians they didn't like go find the. greatest scientists in the world or like. astronauts or anything they just said. hey you seem. enthusiastic I like the way you do the. free body movement stuff get in there. get in this red jumpsuit that is. seriously who this group of eight people. were that's right you could be our Ryan. Tanny Hill.

he's not here there's no. way n he's got football to play this. weekend uh Abigail alling was the next. person we're going to mention she was a. marine biologist M uh Jane pointer uh is. next she was in charge of the farm and. the farm equipment and stuff like that. and uh she was in the documentary you. will see it it's very controversial. because Jane pointer actually is the. only bpan to leave uh which you weren't. supposed to do during the experiment she. had accident where she cut off part of. her finger in a a rice huler I think'll.

do it whatever that is apparently got a. hull rice and I just thought it came in. a bag with a little piece of finger in. it yeah exactly that's the lucky bag. that means you get a million dollars. don't add too much water cuz that thing. becomes a full finger right it turns. into a dinosaur sponge uh but it was. very controversial when it happened. because you know she had to leave. because she needed you know a hospital. to take care of her uh briefly uh but.

here's the deal she came back in. carrying these two large duffel bags. that she didn't leave with and they. weren't supposed to do like oh by the. way we forgot all these things go get. them the whole point of this whole thing. once again was to seal yourself in to. see if it was possible not to cheat a. little bit cuz it would render the. results kind of moot so she comes in. these duffel bags will come back later I. don't know what was in them I don't even. think they ever found out I think it was. probably 15 lb of weed.

that's what I might have brought back in. I'm just. saying the upshot is there's no. hospitals or duffel bags on Mars so. people weren't really super happy about. it you know like the old song goes sure. so uh the next guy's Roy Walford he was. the crew physician he was the oldest one. super old he was like 65. right but he was in great shape because. his scientific interest was at the. intersection of anti-aging and nutrition. and he had come up with his own diet he.

called it the calorie restricted optimal. nutrition diet or Crone. diet terrible name for a diet they're. like you know that's the same name as a. bowel disease exactly he said oh I know. yeah so um he really wanted to get his. chance at like experimenting with these. people with the Crone diet and by. goodness he got his chance as we'll see. that's right uh next up we have Mark. vanillo uh he was a Belgian science. and he operated the life support.

equipment uh including um what you'll. hear a little bit more about this giant. lung in the bottom of this facility that. breathes for the facility and here's a. little tip if you ever go to Biosphere 2. again you can still go there it's. amazing um take the take the time to um. take the tour sort of the underneath. tour it's like 12 12 bucks extra which. Josh sprang for by the way paid my way. in like a like a good. date. never even asked for it back appreciate.

that. yet at the end of everything at the end. of St you schow you're going to be like. and here's this $12 please plus. inflation uh so uh he was dating Abigail. alling there were two couples among this. group of eight which can get a little. thorny uh the reason we know that they. were a couple was a couple of reasons. one they mentioned it in the documentary. uh but two even if they hadn't have said. that there is a shot sort of in the. background uh at one point where he. feeds her a.

banana um on camera and not like peel a. banana like would you like here's how I. would do it with you would you like to. break off a piece of banana Josh have it. thank no he he stuck it in her mouth. with his hand thank you for not. demonstrating that on. me I mean things have changed I know the. workplace has changed but even in 1991. you don't do that to a female coworker. you don't do that it's never been okay. the first first office you did not feed.

someone a banana like that for sure it's. true that's what it says on the. T-shirt uh there was Sally Silverstone. who was the most widely liked of the. group we get the impression she got. along with everyone she was a English. social studies teacher and I think she. was in charge of the food basically. right yeah she was the chef I mean she. made banana everything out of. bananas as we'll see uh she ended up. writing a book afterward called eating.

in thank you colon uh from the field to. the kitchen the recipes from Biosphere 2. she originally called it eating in Colon. guys I mean really eating in but they. changed the. title who's next tabber mum's next he. was in charge of the analytical. chemistry lab he was uh one half of the. other couple with Jane pointer and. they're actually still involved in this. kind of stuff today they're like um they.

formed some company that that is. exploring how to live off of Earth. that's cool you know why cuz he never. fed her a banana on camera that's. right and then there where was he from. he was from he was European too I think. no no okay he was from USA oh all right. Music City. sure he was a little nashan so uh the. last person is Linda Lee and Linda Lee. was the um biome designer manager of the. desert rainforest in Savannah and she.

was the one who was looking for that. jungle in a box idea right all right so. that's the eight of them that's the. eight people there are also 3,800. species of plants and animals in there. they put in everything from cockroaches. to kind of till the soil and um make it. even richer uh they put in um these. these uh little primates that look kind. of catlike they have huge eyes they're. adorable they're called bush babies. anyone ever seen a bush baby super cute. if you want to take out your phone right.

now and look we won't be mad they're so. cute that we're pretty sure that they. were just put in there just because. they're so cute they had to have. something right sure uh and here was the. idea you know they were going to it was. all about Synergy and we talked a lot. about Synergy on our show how in nature. like everything is working together. ideally to help everyone out and that. was the idea here in a shrunken version. of Earth is you're going to have um. plants that are are uh pollinated by. these specific very specific CU it can.

bring in everything it's not Noah's Arc. for goodness sakes uh cuz you know that. was real I'm not sure if you knew that. um they brought in uh things to. pollinate those specific plants like. here we need these insects we need these. plants because they're going to maximize. oxygen for us and we're going to breathe. stuff out and they're going to breathe. stuff in and it's going to be a. beautiful exchange of CO2 and oxygen and. everything's going to be working in. synergy with each other to make this a. grand success exactly and because it was.

a sealed um facility everything had to. be recycled like you said their their. breaths were recycled with the plants um. their uh waste water was put through. this Marsh and then uh they ended up. drinking their own pee essentially it. was a and that's the appropriate. response to. that it was pretty amazing it like the. whole design was pretty great and um all. of this was in uh five different biomes. and a biome iome is a a type of. ecosystem that is a like really specific.

type of ecosystem that's made up from. the interactions of all like the every. Rock and raindrop and um rubber tree and. reindeer all interacting and all sorts. of different that' be a weird weird. biome but they're all interacting in all. sorts of complex ways and all of those. complexities form the characteristics of. that biome in elementary school when. they said Josh what are the for ours and. you should have I said well blurted out. Reading Writing arithmetic you said.

rainbows reindeer what else I like yours. I said raindrops rocks rubber trees and. reindeer yeah thanks. man man that's a that's a carpenter song. if I've ever heard. one you know she was a hell of a drummer. Karen Carpenter sure I think I've seen. you that footage there are videos of. Karen Carpenter just getting down on the. drums which I never knew it's great she.

was the Neil per of her day all right uh. where are we here should I put on my. glasses no I shouldn't put on my glasses. all right let's talk about these biomes. um there were five of them in total um. each like you said each ecosystem had a. very specific set of interactions. supposedly within it but as we'll see. there were variables that didn't let. that happen uh one was the and we walk. through each of these they're still. there to today uh the tropical Amazonian. rainforest um has a 20ft waterfall.

pretty cool it's amazing uh there was a. savannah very useful uh there was a. coastal fog desert kind of like the West. Coast of Mexico like south of. California uh what else was there there. was a freshwater Marsh and get this you. guys there was a mangrove Marsh they had. saltwater mangroves there my favorite. plant on planet Earth they had on little. Earth out there uh and that flowed into. the showstopper which was a nearly.

700,000 gallon uh ocean it had a coral. reef it had a 150t stretch of Beach and. it was operated by vacuum pumps and we. know this because we were in The. Underneath tour and I was like Josh look. at this there's just a random pole that. had a button that said ocean on Ocean. off and I've never wanted to press. something more my. life pretty great uh then the humans.

they lived in their own little biome the. anthropogenic biome wing and for some. reason they decked it out in the. purplest purple you've ever seen it's so. cool I suspect it was some sort of. emotional experiment they wanted to. crack. them cuz there's no explanation for I. was like was purple big in 1990 I was. like no no it's never been big cuz. trying to tight to print somehow but I. can't only prints could pull off purple. you know what I mean so um and and.

alongside that the the purple Wing that. they lived in was a aggro forestry plot. where they grew their food and for a. short time it was probably the most. productive quarter acre of crop land in. the entire world short. time that's just a hint of where things. going uh and then beneath it all like we. said was uh the tour that you can take. now had all the computers and stuff. which if you go it's kind of funny laugh. at this stuff now these you know late. 80s computer systems uh but they did the.

job back then this giant lung that you. can still stand over it's very intense. very cool so the whole thing was put. together in a 3 Acre facility sounds. pretty big until you stop and think. about it and because this is 1991 the. best measurement that we can put it in. is um smus standard Mall. units so if you had gone to RiverGate. Mall in 1991 and walked around the Sears. there you would be walking around a.

Sears that was a little less than 4. acres in size which means that these. people were stuck for two years inside a. facility smaller than a. Sears a. Sears I'm. sorry are they still around at all is. there still Sears or did that completely. go away no think so I got a Maybe from. Front Row guy oh yeah did you give him.

one of. these that doesn't tell me much by the. way. no all right so uh life inside the. biosphere was pretty interesting um. they're sealed off again smaller than a. what Sears oh oh Sears that anger. management is really paying off thanks. that was such a quick switch it slips. out here there it's good uh so obviously. you know all this stuff is very obvious. but we just want to kind of drive it. home you're not going out for coffee.

you're not ordering a pizza you're not. uh there's there's nothing you can bring. in it's just you you can't go have a. drink at the bar if you want one like. you were in there with what you got what. you can grow um there's a lot of small. animals there's a lot of insects there's. cockroaches there's a bunch of hippie. dippy science types all living together. and mor for more actually they didn't. wear those jumpsuits like you know cuz. they had to work really hard as soon as. they left that that press conference at.

the beginning they're like let me get. out of this stuff of course it was all. glass so they all saw them change. clothes. right uh but no Chinese food they. couldn't get Ramen delivered none of. that stuff I would not be all they had. was what they had what they could grow. and that the 14 lbs of weed in those. duffies and don't forget the tour bus. after tour bus of gawkers and school. kids who paid $13 to come look at them. so in addition to being sealed off from. the rest of Earth for two years they. were exhibits in a human Zoo essentially.

and there's a there's a little um shot. in the documentary where some guy is. like trying to take a picture of one of. them and he stops and he's. like he did that and it's documented and. I think he's a. jerk so if all this sounds awesome and. it does to you and the audience and you. don't know what happens next you're. thinking God this is amazing he. ambitious they're trying to do real. science they put all the this money into. it they got a geodesic dome they got. those duffies full of.

whatever you're right it sounds amazing. and if you're wondering did it go wrong. it did um there were a number of real. design flaws in this thing uh and I. don't think they were NE it was. necessarily because they weren't uh. hadn't done this kind of thing before. cuz they had besides themselves figuring. all this out they had teams and teams of. of you know legit scientists from all. over the world like contributing so. everyone was kind of ing in and. involving themselves with their. expertise so I don't think it was a lack.

of that it was. just maybe not the most thought out. thing uh to begin with like the whole. idea that you could I mean the biggest. problem was it couldn't carry out the. science they wanted to because Earth. doesn't have five biomes in a 3 Acre. space that's one thing uh they didn't. seal them off from each other now when. you go and visit they're doors between. all these they built walls and stuff and. you go from the rainforest and shut the. door behind you and you go into the. desert and that you know kind of works. in a way but when it's all right next to.

each other it's not natural and nothing. is going to work and they just didn't. think of that I guess so pretty much any. like actual science they were trying to. do as far as biospherics went was moot. from the beginning because again they. didn't seal the biomes off from one. another you had a Amazon rainforest 30. ft away from a coastal fog that right. and as a result the desert actually. didn't stay desert um because the more. rain you made in the jungle uh to. increase plant production and then you.

know Boost Oxygen it meant more fog roll. than every day in the desert and so the. cacti got choked off by all the moisture. and it turned into like scrub land and. Linda Lee came in at one point was like. what the. hell this place is very moist by the way. if you go to visit I know that word. triggers some people I'm sorry no other. way to describe it it is moist. not cool moist moist moist moist moist.

so. moist like you've been to green houses. and stuff that kind of moisture amplify. this because there's waterfalls and. jungles and stuff so. moist. sorry uh what else happened there was a. massive influx of nutrients from that. Mangrove Marsh that I love right into. the ocean such that you know there's. these great shots at the beginning of. them like scuba diving next to the reef. you're like this this is amazing and you. know a year later it's just so choked.

with algae CU it's so nutrient-dense. that Scuba Diving dried up pretty. quickly yeah it turned into a green. slimy ocean and we keep using the word. nutrients but you could also replace. that with poop right it's true and then. the trees the trees are just weird so. they grew really really tall but they. were too weak to stand up under their. own power their own structure and they. figured out that that was because there. was no wind inside of the biosphere.

outside on biosphere one the wind pushes. on trees and in response trees grow. something called stress wood which is. gives it a lot of structure um the trees. inside a biosphere too didn't have any. wind so they didn't grow that stress. wood which meant they had to be lashed. to the inside of the geodesic dome 80. fet up like a a giant piece of cooked. asparagus just sad sad to see. it I didn't know about this part and in. fact I went when I went in January I had.

purposely I think I watched the. documentary but I purposely didn't look. at the stuff you put together cuz I just. kind of wanted to experience it for the. first time but on the plane joshh was. like you know I heard that they lash. these trees to the tube because they're. so weak and he was really kind of not. obsessed but you were really sort of. into this idea like a like an. Encyclopedia Brown saluteth and we got. there and Josh it was so funny he was. like look look they're still LH and you. looked up there and sure enough there's.

like you know vinyl cord tying these you. know what is it again yeah these weak. trees off and you were just oh you were. so disgusting I cracked the. case uh so we mentioned they start out. with 3,800 species of plants and animals. 40% when extinct which I know that. sounds like a lot but that was actually. better than they thought they were going. to do right yeah I let me put that in a. background Extinction rate real quick. though right according to background. Extinction rates they should have. expected to lose.

0512 species out of 3800 over two years. they lost 1, 1520 species over two years. that's in on biosphere 1 is what you. would expect yes okay yeah but like. Chuck said it was still better than what. they predicted which was 70% Extinction. rate so 40% is like a Triumph compared. to that that's true uh and here's the. the weird thing that happened in. Biosphere 2 was that some of the things. in fact many of the things ended up.

really really thriving were things that. they didn't even bring in and intend to. thrive uh for instance Morning Glory. Vines they can be lovely we all love. them they grew so extensively they. basically and this will become a. recurring theme is they had to spend so. much of their time doing other stuff. rather than what each of them had their. own little expertise in uh they didn't. get to do the things that they had. expertise so they're out there as we. will see later farming all day weeding.

all day chopping this morning glory vine. and that's going to build resentment. when you can't do your little Crone. project or or uh Linda Lee didn't even. get to take the stuffing out of her LA. Gear shoe box she didn't cuz she's. chopping back those Morning Glory Vines. right um there was a species of ant. called the crazy ant that took over the. place it actually out competed the 11. species of ants that were introduced. purposely no one knows how the crazy ant. got in on that shoe probably probably.

yeah it took over though and they're. still there today when we were sitting. there looking out over the ocean kind of. holding on this railing our hands were. just covered and unfortunately don't. bite or anything but we were like oh my. God we've heard about you guys can't. believe we were a little star struck. actually it was pretty neat it made up. for the Lash trees I think a little bit. uh all I mean not all but most of the. pollinating things they brought in to. pollinate these specific plants died off.

uh so they ended up having to hand. pollinate crops which I don't know why. that sounds dirty to me but that's what. they. did uh and to top it all off well I'm. not going to talk about the bush babies. you talk about going to make me do this. I can't do. it so remember the bush babies the super. super cute little primates well one of. them got into a wiring panel and was. electrocuted which is just that's got to. be a bummer day in biosphere too you. know like I'm sure you could smell it.

throughout the whole. facility I bet they're like M bet they. ate the hell out of that bush baby right. they did make lemonades out of lemons. though um for example they found that. salamanders play a disproportionate role. in trapping carbon in soil because it. eats a lot of the leaf eating insects. that release the carbon they hadn't. introduced salamanders but they made the. observation all the.

same so that's all well and good things. aren't going great there's a domino. effect happening uh in nature because. things aren't you know helping each. other out Synergy wasn't happening you. guys no but there were two really big. giant hurdles that would affect the. entire outcome of this experiment uh. both things they didn't count on both. things are very important and they are. eating and. breathing. yeah you think it's going pretty good.

still going pretty good I think so you. guys still enjoying. [Applause]. yourself well if I'm not mistaken Chuck. just set us up with a cliffhanger uhhuh. which means we're going to take one more. message break that's. [Music]. right learning stuff with josua. stuff you.

should we're back everybody hi Nashville. all right never gets. [Applause]. old all right we're going to take these. one in time hunger number one uh they. initially calculated they were going to. live on on about 2500 calories a day not. too bad uh they never got very close to.

that um they had to farm their own food. like we said they they had farmed some. on the the ranch in New Mexico like sort. of like we Farm actually there may be. some legit Farmers here God Bless you. that's. right but like I farm in my backyard a. little bit I farm uh this is the kind of. farming they did they weren't like. professional Farmers so they they did an. okay job growing stuff well in true. Synergy and fashion none of them had any. experience with subsistence farming and. I guess they hadn't thought that through.

when they sealed themselves off for 2. years tried to grow their own crops uh. at first they got about 1,800 calories a. day not terrible you're pretty hungry. but you're living that Rose to about. 2,000 at one point when the farm was. going pretty good again you're fine. you're probably hungry on 2,000 calories. um but again these people are working. really really hard every day so they're. burning through those calories very very. quickly and again they have to spend all. their time now weeding and farming and. doing all these things that they thought.

that Linda Lee was probably primarily. doing and they're not able to run their. experiment so again tension is is. increasing as they go but Dr Walford was. like yes that guy cuz he had a a captive. sample for two years to study his Crone. diet and he actually was Vindicated. everybody dropped a shocking amount of. weight I think the average was 21% of. their body weight for men 14% for the. women. and um the thing is their their um blood.

markers started to show Improvement like. their cholesterol levels were actually. good and their weight finally stabilized. and they actually got to this weird. level of healthy from that calorie. restricted optimal nutrition diet and. Walford was he was pretty happy about. that he's like isn't this great everyone. screw you. Walford they do that the cartoon thing. where they look he's like taking a nap. and they look at him and he's like a he. turns into a roast roasted turkey in his. [Laughter]. bed uh the point is everyone they were.

hungry all the time they were hungry uh. they lost the enzymes that they formerly. had to digest meat they didn't have a. lot of meat to begin with but they. certainly couldn't digest it anymore uh. in their guts they ate peanut shells. just you know like let's just just eat. that whole peanut why AR even shelling. these things to get more calories uh. they ate Things That Grew they ate tons. of sweet potatoes because they grew. sweet potatoes pretty successfully so. their skin turned orange.

yeah they ate a beets they grew a lot of. beets they grew a lot of bananas you. know what happens to beets the next day. in the bathroom so can you imagine these. people are all subsisting they've got. orange skin their bathrooms look like a. crime. scene and they are eating so many. bananas they they made banana wine and. in the documentary they talk about how. awful it tasted and how quick quickly. they drank. it but I just just for a second like.

let's all get into the mindset of living. for 2 years on sweet potatoes and. beets that is cruel yeah that's like. somebody saying moist over and over. again what about the uh coffee though. they thought of coffee ahead of time. this is where I would have signed out I. would have been like mission's over for. me um they were planning they actually. did grow coffee Upland in the rainforest. but they miscalculated and it turns out. they could put together one cup of. coffee every 2 weeks which meant. everybody got six cups over the entire 2.

years yeah not one cup each like that's. even bad yeah they got three cups of. coffee per year each it took uh 4 months. to make a pizza because they had to. start by growing the wheat um they. harvested their salt from the ocean and. then their only source of milk came from. three goats uh Stardust vision and Milky. Way okay okay beets sweet potatoes and. goat. milk yeah I I don't understand why you.

guys aren't more grossed out by that do. you guys eat a lot of beets and sweet. potatoes and goat milk together I mean. like they're fine on their own and you. know normal amounts but you put them all. together for 2 years guys this is. Nashville they're they're back to the. land they're Real Americans hey I'm a. real American I can get back to the land. but I don't want to live on sweet. potatoes and beat and goats milk for 2. years can we not all agree on that all. right okay thank.

you we can finally move on from that. part whatever. socialist fascist communist cuz those. are all the same. thing I wasn't going to get political. sorry uh hungriness is a real situation. here though like it it became a real. problem um the group starts to divide a. little bit there is uh one faction cuz. you know things aren't going well so. there's one faction that's still very. much following uh cuz John Allen was.

kind of running the show from the. outside they were following John Allen's. words still and sort of John Allan. nightes and then there was another. faction that were like I don't think we. should listen to this guy anymore like. he's not even in here and they went he's. right on the other side of the glass and. they all looked in right outside the. glass John Allen was like I had a. burrito and was like oh me so like a. real division grew within the ranks and. it got kind of ugly interpersonally. between them yeah Abigail Allen said she.

was spit at twice and Roy Walford later. said that's that's how I've. thought it's a new one too that's. good thank you thank you oh man poor Roy. things got worse for him by the. way game night dried up pretty quickly. though is the the upshot of all that for. sure I'm sorry you're the upshot guy. that's okay you can use it once in a. while oh thank you I appreciate that the.

anger management is really. working so uh that's the hungriness um. number two is the breathing trouble yes. so about a year I guess into the mission. they started to notice that their oxygen. levels were going down their CO2 levels. were going up and either one of those is. bad but them working in conjunction. that's really not good and uh it turned. out that atmosphere grew to about a. level somewhere around Cusco Peru which.

is way up in the 0s and in true Synergy. and fashion none of them had any. experience living in Cusco Peru so they. were suffering like big time they. reported um having to take breaks. walking up the one flight of stairs um. they were hurting for sure and they. looked around and they they figured out. that at least part of the problem was. that the soil was about five times. richer than you'd find out on biosphere. 1 which meant the there were tons of. little microbes that were sucking up the. oxygen as they did their thing and.

releasing a lot of CO2 that was problem. one yeah and that one's a little. frustrating cuz you know at the. beginning they're like we we really need. to grow stuff so let's get the best soil. and bring that stuff in and no one ever. was like but wait a minute that's not. how it is like we should bring in. realistic soil great band name by the. way realistic soil sure I don't know no. I'm not sure yeah this is Nashville they. know yeah okay oh you know what that's. my band with the nine other guys oh.

that's funny you say that cuz I had. thought of one the dimes a. dozens oh that's the name of our band. yeah you thought of that when I was. saying that mhm wow oh wait just now no. no no earlier yeah I was going to say. this like an hour ago I just still the. way your brain works always surprises me. thanks man after all these years Chuck. is being so the diamond dozens yeah. that's probably a real band here. probably they're backstage right. now uh so the soil yes we did the soil.

so um normally the plant life and. Biosphere 2 would have sort of reckoned. with this and they would have worked. overtime they would have stepped up and. sucked that CO2 out of the air and. burped up oxygen and everyone it would. have been tintable at least but that. wasn't happening the plants were working. hard and the levels just weren't. changing and they could not figure out. why no because there's a lot of CO2 that. should have been in the atmosphere that. was mysteriously missing so they looked. around again said what is going on and.

they discovered that concrete is an. excellent carbon sink it just sucks it. right out of the air faster than plants. and Biosphere 2 happened to have 110,000. Square ft of exposed concrete and that. concrete was out competing the plants. for that CO2 so the plants couldn't pump. out oxygen and yet the CO2 levels were. still higher than they should be which. meant the biospherians were in trouble. and it wasn't immediately apparent what. they should do about the whole thing. yeah they weren't sure I mean there were. basically two decisions they were like.

well listen we can uh sort of blow the. spirit of this whole thing and we can. bring in oxygen and pump in oxygen and. stay in here uh and probably risk you. know the scorn of the media and the. scientific community and stuff like that. render most of the science moot or we. can leave and they didn't want to leave. so in the end they decided they're going. to bring in oxygen yeah and they did it. saved the day um initially when the. biosphere project got underway the media. was super duper on board somebody.

actually wrote that it was the greatest. scientific Endeavor since humans landed. on the moon it's pretty amazing thing to. call it right just a few years later. Time magazine named it as one of its 100. worst ideas of the 20th. century alongside the Titanic DDT and. sailing the Exon Valdes of Prince. William sound man bad stuff they really. turned on him in the Press uh not only.

that reports start to come out of some. other things um they had a CO2 scrubber. in there to help out that they didn't. tell anyone about um it obviously wasn't. enough to and that was kind of how they. talk about it later was like it wasn't. even enough to solve our problem so it's. not like we were cheating that much just. a little bit we were still in really bad. shape if that makes you feel any better. but they didn't tell anyone they didn't. disclose this so that was a problem uh. those two duffies that she brought back. in from the hospital those came back up. in the Press they were like what was in.

those duffies we have the camera footage. you left with nothing you came back with. these two big duffies and she was like I. don't know I'm not really sure what that. was it's cool man like don't be a drag. man you sold that I was like oh God. Chuck's. choking uh so sentiment like uh started. to turn uh publicly on them and then the. very scientist that helped them started. to turn on them yeah because word got. out that the trees were like lashed to. the geodesic dome in the ocean and. turned like into a a sea of green slime.

so these mainstream scientists that had. helped design the place really started. to distance themselves and um they. figured out that if they criticized the. way it was executed they could kind of. um give themselves an alibi and and so. the the media turned on it the. scientific Community turned on it and. the public turned on it as well yeah it. was not a good scene uh years later uh a. few years later in 199 that original OG. Synergy and and bios ferian Mark Nelson. he came out and wrote about it and said.

listen the whole purpose of this thing. it was like a beta test we were supposed. to go in there see what worked what. didn't work as you would expect and then. the second team would come in in year. three and like Rectify some of these and. then see what worked and what didn't and. it's a 100-year experience you guys it's. a long game um the problem was they. painted it like it wasn't a beta test. like it was kind of this perfect amazing. thing out of the box and they had. chances and that's what's so frustrating. about this whole thing is they had.

chances time and time again to come out. and uh with PR basically that talked. about this stuff and was upfront and. they would have had a much better time. um selling it to the public when things. started going bad than if they stood. their ground which is what they did and. were like no I don't know what you're. talking about that everything's going. great yeah because anytime something. came up like the duffel bags or the CO2. scrub or whatever John Allen and his. inner circle decided the best route was. to cover it up or lie or obus gate and.

it was very obvious because in true. Synergy and fashion none of them had any. experience lying to the Press so it was. really kind of obvious that they were. full of full of yes saltwater Marsh. poo poo for sure so the whole there was. like this 2-year ongoing PR disaster and. really more than anything that's. probably what sunk the project that's. right but uh regardless of what the. world thought and what the Press thought.

they brought in that oxygen it sustain. them uh it is actually kind of a fun. moment because they were very despondent. at this point in the documentary they're. weak they can't breathe they're walking. around just like slugging around and. then that oxygen gets pumped in and. they're like almost dancing around this. place yeah that's pretty great brought. in some house music uh and you know they. brought it in for better for worse and. finished the experiment they did stay in. there to their credit for the entire two. years and emerged on September 23rd uh.

1993 um as Mark Nelson would say uh. profoundly changed right and then as. scheduled mission two went in after. mission one I think uh like a few few. months afterward and mission two was. slated to just stay in for a year but it. didn't last nearly as long well also. mission 2 only had three people um. Paulie Shore brenon Frasier and Steven. Baldwin so has anyone seen.

biodome oh that is a it's a genuinely. good movie this is my takeaway from. Nashville beets sweet potatoes biodome. yeah huge town for that stuff right it's. a I watched it for research seriously I. still didn't I still haven't watched it. I may be the only person on the planet. who's ever watched biodome for research. purposes but it PID off because they. actually captured a lot of the spirit of. everything that went wrong in there it.

just never went right like Paulie Shore. got it to in the end so Ed bass uh you. remember Ed he was the the billionaire. son who funded this thing he sort of fed. up with all this bad press uh The. Divided factions it's it's really become. pretty ugly at this point so he said all. right you know what I'm going to Stage a. hostile takeover of my own company and. John Allen you're out of here I'm sorry. I love you man I love all the reform. dancing we did over the years all the. the crazy creative uh kids stuff that we. dreamed up um apparently not under the.

influence of drugs which was highly. surprising uh they were kind of straight. straightedge right supposedly just. weirder and weirder I just don't believe. it and uh it became way more preure and. less Eco after this point uh it went in. a more Twisted Direction when they. brought in a new board and a new CEO. named Steve Bannon. yes for. real and in the documentary they said. the name Steve Bannon I went well that's.

a. coincidence and in wal's in younger. Steve Bannon I was like really yeah they. put the guy what a villain to introduce. an3 exactly it was very surprising the. guy used to be able to buy coke off of. on Air Force One That's who they put in. charge a biosphere 2 at the end that's. right he was only wearing one collared. shirt at the time you're right. did not get into that whatever that look. is where you wear two it's I don't know. what have you guys seen that all right.

I'm wearing this shirt imagine if I had. like like an isod Polo underneath it. with a another collar that's up that's. Steve bannon's look sure he's the only. guy that does that so maybe credit to. him no okay. no two colored shirts anyway so uh Mark. vano and Abigail alling were rightfully. concerned that about this new Direction. they were worried about the safety of. the mission 2 crew so they went in and.

broke the seal to the facility they gave. it a bunch of beer until it peed and. that opened up that opened up the air. and let it. in. really beets sweet potatoes Bodum and. breaking the seal breaking the seal at. the. bar Lil. nashy I hope L nashy Trends yeah that's.

what I'm hoping you ever nickname a city. and it worked no not in all the times. I've tried I'm pretty good at it you. ever heard of the Big Apple holy cow is. that you that was me wow. we I called it the old cow. pasture just in take so they busted them. out I like to think it happened like in. the dead of night I'm not sure if it was. that dramatic but that's how it plays. out in my head at least and that was the. end of Biosphere 2 as far as that.

project goes no 100 years uh that $150. to $200 million closed system uh lasted. for Less Than 3 years total and it would. never be a closed system again like you. can visit it now so it's obviously not a. closed system it's very cool but you can. walk in that door and through lots of. other doors now uh and visit all those. biomes and it it is still legitimately. amazing yeah it is amazing but because. it was never closed off again the spirit. of the project was really lost forever.

um and because the Press turned on it. and the scientific Community turned on. it we still today have this idea of. Biosphere 2 just being a complete clui. mess kind of a laughing stock that some. hippies tried that really didn't work. out um and that's all true but there's a. lot of stuff that gets overlooked too. apparently hundreds of papers came out. of the biosphere project um and some. some genuine scientific discoveries did. as well um that low Tech Wastewater.

system that didn't really work for them. because of their ocean turning slimy. actually has worked in other developing. parts of the world it's used all over. that's right which is great yeah there's. also uh the the discovery that um ocean. acidification bleaches coral and kills. it off that came out of Biosphere 2 as. well that's right that's a big problem. these days and that all started there uh. well the bush babies sure what happened. to them they they became extinct but yes. they weren't extinct the bush babies.

weren't extinct everybody I don't know. why you keep giving these to me well. this is a silver lining at least the the. there is a silver lining is that while. they were there before they went extinct. they actually managed to reproduce and. if you were creating this test bed for. off Earth habitation like that's a. really big deal they got some mammals to. reproduce and it closed off system so. good things did actually happen but. probably the the biggest contribution. that Biosphere 2 gave us was it.

reinvigorated um Humanity's um love of. Earth I guess it had kind of peaked. previously in about 1970 with the first. Earth Day then everybody was like oh I. hadn't heard of cocaine before let me. start doing that. instead went that way for a couple of. decades and then the bio experience came. back and like blew everybody's Coke. right off their table and got them. focused again on on Steve Bannon jumped. on the floor. right.

so yeah I mean it it fascinated the. world with environmentalism again it. kind of kickstarted that next wave of. envir environmentalism in a real way um. it really jump started things uh on the. welfare of the planet and for a little. while at least and the thing that's. frustrating is to think about like where. would we be if it hadn't gone that way. like we would be I think last year would. have been year 30 of this Amazing. Experiment um how much further and we. made some pretty great strides but how. much further would we have been along uh. in terms of caring for our planet had.

Biosphere 2 just really solved. everything to begin with and just kicked. as much ass as everyone thought it was. going to kick sure it's sad to think. about it's also possible that it was. just too it actually was too clui to. produce any scientific value but we'll. never know uh Ed bass got Columbia. University to take it on as an Annex at. one point for their science department. ments uh that dissolved eventually and. now when you go and visit uh you will. see University of Arizona branding.

everywhere because they they run it now. and that's one of their research. facilities and they still carry out. science there uh real science uh if you. ever decide to go and again highly. recommend you do you're going to be. staying there in Tucson not too far away. uh there's a great Mexican restaurant. downtown Tucson called pinka that we ate. and it is delicious and wonderful it. really is very great cocktails and then. um today they say that if you do go take. the tour there's a legend that goes that. you should hang back and get out of.

sight of the tour guide especially in. the rainforest biome and just duck. behind some bushes and hide there for. the rest of the night after they lock up. if you're really really quiet you look. around you might just catch the ghosts. of the bush. babies and if you look really really. closely you'll see that one of them has. its hair standing on. it and that's a story by spere 2.

everybody thank you Nashville thank you. very. [Applause]. much stuff you should know is a. production of iHeart radio for more. podcasts my heart radio visit the iHeart. Radio app Apple podcasts or wherever you. listen to your favorite.

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