Just The Gist of: Biosphere 2 episode artwork

EPISODE · Feb 4, 2026 · 1H 15M

Just The Gist of: Biosphere 2

from Just The Gist

In 1991, a billion-dollar experiment took place, designed to see if humans could survive in an artificial earth inside a giant glass dome that would eventually be built on other planets. Years was spent building Biosphere 2 in the USA, and inside was an ocean with actual tides and waves, a rainforest, a desert, vast wetlands, a farm with crops, animals, housing and laboratories. ‘Rain’ could even be switched on and off. Eight Humans lived inside it for TWO YEARS. So why has hardly anybody heard of it? Because it was a disaster, none of it worked, and they nearly died. Turns out, despite sounding impressive, this experiment wasn’t run by NASA or even scientists, it was run by a bunch of hippies from a cult-like experimental theatre group who had no clue what they were doing, but had duped a billionaire into giving them a lot of money..We give you Just The Gist, but if you want more, there's Breakin' Nooz, JTG After Show AND Bonus eps! You can access them by joining the Gistener Club via the Just The Gist Patreon or Apple Premium Subscriptions.Watch Just The Gist episodes on Youtube @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Just The Gist on Instagram and TikTok @JustTheGistPodcastFollow Rosie in all the places at @RosieWaterlandWant to give us a SuGISTion? Tell Rosie to stop singing so much? Email us at [email protected] Just The Gist is a Just The Network production. Executive Producer and Host: Rosie Waterland | Senior Producer and Editor: James Joseph | Producer: Kate Leaver | Additional production support: Hayley Staveley | Acast Legends: Guy Scott-Wilson and Simon McDermott | Production Assistant: PocketDon't forget to follow and give us 5 stars, which means something apparently!Thank you, as always, for Gistening. Now go say something impressive at a dinner party..The documentary Spaceship Earth (in Aus you can rent or buy it on YouTube or Amazon Prime): https://youtu.be/ySQU8kzmZBo The current Biosphere 2 website (run by the University of Arizona): https://biosphere2.org/NY Times article - ‘The Lost History of One of the World’s Strangest Science Experiments’ (2019):https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/29/sunday-review/biosphere-2-climate-change.html Guardian article: ‘Eight Go Mad In Arizona: How a lockdown experiment went horribly wrong’ (2020)https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jul/13/spaceship-earth-arizona-biosphere-2-lockdownhttps://www.history.com/.amp/news/biosphere-2-spaceship-earthAwesome footage from inside: https://www.pbs.org/video/good-stuff-nature-biosphere/https://youtu.be/eZcLeF4XM1IYou can visit! https://news.arizona.edu/biosphere-2   Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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