A second mission started in 1994 but only made it six months. The story of Biosphere 2, however, has evolved well beyond the late-night punchlines, tell-all books and the Pauly Shore movie Bio-Dome.

In 1991, Space Biospheres Ventures, with the the Institute of Ecotechnics as scientific coordinator, finished work on Biosphere 2. The name was a nod to the idea that Planet Earth is our original ...

Biosphere 2 lives on as a successful research site 30 years after eight people emerged from the experiment in the Arizona desert. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin) ...

A second mission started in 1994 but only made it six months. The story of Biosphere 2, however, has evolved well beyond the late-night punchlines, tell-all books and the Pauly Shore movie Bio-Dome.

A second mission started in 1994 but only made it six months. The story of Biosphere 2, however, has evolved well beyond the late-night punchlines, tell-all books and the Pauly Shore movie Bio-Dome.

Coffee and chocolate in the rainforest Inside Biosphere 2's giant glass pyramid, tropical trees stretch 80 feet above the forest floor. Crazy ants, so named because of their erratic movements, scurry ...