Tuesday, March 26…Think Like a Scientist (GoNoodle)

   On our way home from Coolidge yesterday, we took a slight detour so Mom could see the herd of the Traveling Sheep up close and personal.  She was duly impressed, not only by the sheep but also by the roadrunner who did its best to hide from us.  But it didn’t know that I am persistent and have a good zoom lens.  

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  The day dawned cool and partly sunny, which meant shorts and two shirts for me and sweatpants and a jacket for Mom.  As the morning warmed up, she did change from sweatpants to capris, but wouldn’t give up that jacket.

   Mom had heard of Biosphere 2 on a TV show and wondered how far away it was and if we could go there.  No problem!  And since it’s located in Oracle, there was no doubt where we’d be having lunch…DeMarco’s Pizzeria.

   The tour of Biosphere 2 is self-guided using a smart phone.  Don’t know if it’s possible to do the tour without a phone…no other options were mentioned.  Anyway, install the app, press ‘start the tour’ and play the appropriate video at each numbered stop. Ear buds make for easier listening. That all sounds good and well, but the app took forever to load and then the videos were hit or miss as to whether they played. Finally, hooked up to their wi-fi and it was much smoother. 

   The name “Biosphere 2” comes from the idea that is modeled on the Earth, which is Biosphere 1. It was built on 3 acres in 1986 as a facility to research and develop self-sustaining technology that could be used in space-colonization.  Eight ‘Biospherians’ were selected to spend two years in this self-contained facility, researching and documenting their findings. The biosphere contained 7 biomes:  an ocean with coral reef, a marsh, a rainforest, a savannah, a desert, farming areas and a micro-city.  Biospherians made it through the two years but not without tarnishing the lofty ideals of the experiment. The plants contained within couldn’t convert the amount of CO₂ to the proper level of oxygen to maintain the health of the occupants, so oxygen was pumped in; extra food was also brought in.  Those in charge tried to keep this a secret and when the story broke, the public felt that the mission of the experiment failed.  However, even though the integrity of the experiment was questioned, there are some in the scientific community who feel that there were beneficial outcomes of the closed ecological experiment.

   It’s been owned by the University of Arizona since 2011; the biomes are being used for research into understanding the consequences of global climate change. 

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   On the way back to camp, I discovered there had been a documentary made in 2020 about the Biosphere 2 experiment, called Spaceship Earth.  We watched it and by the time it was over, I was a little confused.  Based on words like ‘scientific experimentation’ and ‘research’, I had assumed that the Biosphere 2 project was undertaken by scientists and researchers because research is typically done by those who have knowledge or an expertise in a certain area.  Not the case here.  Biosphere 2 was the brainchild of a hippy theater group, led by a charismatic man named John Allen. No doubt this group had vision and courage by conceiving of and building this facility but there was not a science degree or researcher among any of the Biospherians. But then I guess if we mucked up Earth enough that we’d have to build a space colony, not everyone involved would be a scientist or an expert.  So, there is that.

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   Oracle is not a big town…there appear to be 3 eateries and they’re all closed on Tuesday.  What are the odds on that one?  So, no BLT after all; we hit the Dairy Queen in Picacho for a very late lunch.

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    There’s been a lot of press in the past week or so about the awarding of the Congressional Gold Medal to the members of the ‘Ghost Army’ of World War II.  It’s been more than 80 years since the more than 1,000 members of the 23^rd Headquarters Special Troops landed in France; seven of them survive and three were in attendance to receive the medals…the average age of the survivors is 100 years old.

   The story of this unit is fascinating…tricking the Germans with the use of inflatable tanks, illusions, and sound effects. And the most improbable part is that nobody talked about it afterward; it was kept a secret for years after the end of the war. The mission wasn’t declassified until 1996. Tonight, we watched The Ghost Army, a documentary made in 2013 which detailed the exploits of this unit. I think most of the men interviewed for the film are no longer alive. It’s a little over an hour long and I wish it was longer with more interviews.

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    We didn't realize until after dark that cows have found the cell camera and now it’s sending lovely pictures of the sky.  Guess we need to check that out tomorrow. 😎