A Scientist Reflects On His '21st Century Odyssey' Within Biosphere 2

Within Biosphere 2 Date: January 24, 1994, p.3 Editor's Note: On Sept. 26, 1993, four men and four women emerged from two years inside a giant Arizona greenhouse described by the New York Times as "the world's largest and strangest test-tube experiment, a planet-in-a-bottle called Biosphere 2." Among those emerging was 69-year-old University of California, Los Angeles, researcher and professor of pathology Roy L. Walford, who for

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Within Biosphere 2 Date: January 24, 1994, p.3

Editor's Note: On Sept. 26, 1993, four men and four women emerged from two years inside a giant Arizona greenhouse described by the New York Times as "the world's largest and strangest test-tube experiment, a planet-in-a-bottle called Biosphere 2."

Among those emerging was 69-year-old University of California, Los Angeles, researcher and professor of pathology Roy L. Walford, who for more than 20 years has studied the effects of low-calorie, nutrient-dense diets in animals. Walford continued this research in Biosphere 2, a glass-sealed, 3.15-acre space, replete with an ocean, grassy savanna, and 3,800 species of plants and animals. The difference was that this time, Walford's subjects were humans, rather than mice and rats.

According to Walford and the other so-called biospherians, their two-year mission within the "closed ecological support system and research facility" was a resounding success. They count among their most significant ...

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