Editorial: "Reality bites: The lessons of Biosphere 2"
See more in our gallery: "Earth in miniature: Tour a mini-world under glass"
AROUND 10am, the rain began to fall. It wasn't especially heavy, but it was relentless. Hour after hour the downpour continued, soaking into the deep black soil. After midnight, the hill was saturated, and the water began to pool on the surface and run, carving a gully that deepened and flared as the rain continued.
A few weeks later, I am standing beneath that hill. Overhead, the sun shines in through a latticework of white metal bars. In front of me is the slush of black mud that washed onto the concrete floor, much to the consternation of the rain-makers. They hadn't meant to carve out a chunk of the hillside – after all, they had only just built it.
Once, the giant glass chamber in which ...
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