For the past few years a group of independent scientists, privately funded, have been preparing for a bold attempt to create a self-contained world. Dubbed Biosphere II (Biosphere I being Earth), the project composes eight biospherians that will be sealed into a glass paneled complex. The idea is that for two years all air, water, plants and animals in the system will feed upon and sustain one another. Their only links to the outside world will be visual and electronic - via the telephone, fax and computer. The biosphere consists of mini-environments - a marshland, desert, rain forest, and an ocean with tidal rhythm and a living coral. This book chronicles the conception of the Biosphere II project.