biosphere 2

The Biosphere 2 is an interesting and educational stop in you are in the area. Our guide was very well informed and interesting to listen to. The monies to build the Biosphere 2 came from one person in the amount 500 million dollars. Was built in the 1990's as a sealed, self sustaining environment but did not work. Is now owned by the U of AZ and used as an educational institution. Very interesting.

Let me start by saying I met my husband in Botany lab in College (40 years ago). You can take the girl out of the lab, but you can't take the lab out of the girl! The Biosphere is a great experience for science and engineering lovers in addition to all the school students who travel there each year. The $20 admission includes a behind the scenes tour and allows you to walk the beautifully landscaped grounds on your own. I went on the website a few days before the visit and got a $3 discount coupon; discounts are also available at other locations according to the B2 website. There are senior and student discounts and half the fee counts as a charitable contribution. The tour was exactly as described on their website. Our guide was knowledgeable and an excellent presenter (about 1/3 of our group were from French Canada) who spoke clearly to all educational levels in our group. My favorite part of the tour was going into one of the "lungs" of the Biosphere. This is the area that regulates air pressure and exchange in a sealed environment. The engineering of this area brought tears to my eyes. Jaw-dropping! The Biosphere is a little out of the way; 2 hours from Mesa where we were staying and an hour from Tuscan. We made a day trip of it visiting B2 in the morning; lunch in Tuscan; afternoon in Saguaro National Park; then back to Mesa for dinner.

We we're excited to see Biosphere 2, an experiment developed in the 70's to control climatic conditions in different environments. The University of AZ has taken over the space and it is used as a living lab. Unfortunately our tour guide was not informative, boring and using many scientific terms the average person would not understand. Many of the visitors were fidgeting, rolling their eyes and relieved when the tour was over. I was glad we found a coupon deal so we didn't have to pay full price.

This was an amazing stop on our tour of the southwest. It's amazing what they had to do just to get it up and running 20 years ago. Our guide was outstanding and extremely knowledge.

It is a little out of the way, but only 50 minutes north of Tucson, AZ. It was built as an experiment in the 1990's as a sealed environment to see if people could live in a closed, self sustaining environment.The experiment failed and it changed hands several times since then. Now the U. of Arizona runs it and is doing many environmental experiments. A 90 minute tour is available for a nominal fee and is well worth the time. You see several ecosystems from a tropical forest to a desert to an underwater sea. You can still see some of the living quarters which is like looking into a time capsule.

If you ever wonder what it would be like to live in a colony in space or in a placed after an atomic disaster this is the place. the tours and tour guides ,at least ours was excellent. Located at about 75 minutes from Tucson, it was a looking glass into what a space colony would look like. the place has a representation of most climates on earth and it is currently managed by the University of Arizona which is doing an study on water resources and how to best manage and use them. There are several areas including the lungs, a section in which air was transferred while the site was completed seal to accommodate the expansion due to heat. Only one is working for show.The quarters of the original biosphere habitants looked very comfortable and the best part in my opinion was the rain forest, having visited the Amazon basin it is amazing how close it is to it being in the middle of the desert (humidity and all) Overall it was worth the price of admission and if you enjoy science it is a good place to visit.

Ongoing experiments by University of Arizona and others make this an important visit when in the Oracle area.

I have read a lot about Biosphere 2, that man made domed structure in the middle of nowhere, where people lived in a contained world. I was kind of excited to see it for myself, and raced to Oracle to check it out. I have to say I was disappointed. But I was disappointed because of what I WANTED to see, not what it actually was.This is a science lab. There are experiments going on all the time here. You don't get much of the history of when the people actually lived in the Biosphere. Instead you learn about the plants and animals that are there, and why. You learn about the erosion studies going on and what the University of Arizona is doing with it. If you're into that sort of thing, it's pretty amazing. I thought it was a 90 minute tour into my high school biology class.If you are in Arizona and have a half a day to kill, it's not bad to see once. Nobody needs to see it more than that. Unless you're a scientist and want to do an experiment in the rain forest or some other thing.One caveat. Be ready for stairs. There are 150 stairs on the tour, and there is no place to sit down for 90 minutes. Lots of walking!!!

Once upon a time, this might have been a very interesting stop. but now it comes across as an underutilized, directionless dinosaur that is no longer doing state of the art science. This problem was enhanced by the fact that our tour guide was completely ignorant about the past, present, and future of the facility. (I learned more from reading about it in Wikipedia.

I noticed that on our trip from Globe, AZ to Tucson, Az we would pass the Biosphere2 complex. I had tried to send an e-mail (but got no answer), to see what their claim of being handicap accessible meant. My wife is recuperating from a broken foot,so she is currently in a wheel chair. Receiving no answer, we decided we would be so close that we would just stop by to see what we would be able to see. We were a little disappointed to learn that although there were many people there visiting this attraction, that handicap accessible meant that we could go around the exterior of the facility, with no reduction in price. Because it was windy, cool and rainy, we opted not to go this time. Once the wife is able to get out of her wheel chair, we will return.

I am glad I was able to see Biosphere 2. Biosphere 2 is still being used for research - just not in the same capacity as it was originally intended. It was incredibe to see all the plants (especially the ones located in the tropcal area), the mini ocean with the wave generator (no waves were generated when we were there), and all the diff environments. We also toured underneath the Dome and saw where all the heating and contracting took place. There were some stairs / steps within the dome, but not that many. I am glad I was able to see the dome. If you just wanted to see the bldg/dome itself, you did not need to pay as they only collected the $$$ once inside the bldg/dome itself.

My wife and I visited this for her first time and my second time. We spent about two and a half hours at the Biosphere 2 total for both the tour and to look at exhibits afterwords. It was about an hour drive north of the Tucson airport. I would say that if you are within about two hours of the Biosphere 2, it is worth driving to. It is definitely a unique structure, and the science and engineering is fascinating. That being said, the tour was probably worth more like $12-15 than the $20 they charge. Worth seeing once for sure.

Biosphere 2 is both a fascinating look at current scientific research and a wonderful history lesson about the mission in which 8 people lived in this facility for two years. The structure itself is incredible and a big photo opportunity, as is the beautiful area in which the facility is located. Our tour guide, Kat, really brought the history to life and was extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic. The engineering and design are amazing. All in all, it was about 3 hours very well spent, but it could have been more. Highly recommended!

We chose this one-of-a-kind scientific, working museum out of curiosity and came away much more impressed and enlightened then before. Our tour guide was extremely knowledgeable and enthusiastic, answering questions and encouraging further exploration.

Went with my brother and sister and their spouses as an activity that crossed interests and very different personalities. We all enjoyed Biosphere 2. My brother took the special 2 p.m. tour that was led by a scientist who was one of the original Biosphere inhabitants in the early 90's (1 hour tour) then took the final normal tour of the interior. The other 4 just took the normal tour. Our leader was an engineer who had worked on Biosphere 2. The big idea and the planning that created this space is incredible. We had tons of questions and each was answered patiently and thoroughly although this was at least the third tour our guide had given that day. We had previously had a lecture at our scuba club about how the University of Arizona is recreating some of the environments. So it is great to see its future as well as be awed by what the original Biospherians accomplished (scientifically and personal challenges of surviving inside the bubble for 2 years). Not sure it would hold the interest of younger children.