Where's the Hypotheses, Please?

On a cool July morning in AZ recently (yes, Weezie, it is not always an inferno in AZ in July despite what you may have heard or read by now) I drove to Oracle Junction for a long delayed visit to the Biosphere.
No longer inhabited by starving scientists attempting to demonstrate survival skills within the sealed structure, the biosphere is dangling somewhere between academia, pseudo science and owner/developers.
Survival now will depend on the Biosphere's appeal to a cross section of science, students and investors who find value in studying its five artificial biomes. This is an "engineering marvel" in search of an hypotheses.

An interior ocean, rain forest and desert still thrive (marginally) within the structure.

Two enormous lungs occupy the great domes seen in promotional brochures. The lungs like most of the facility are no longer in operation but they once controlled air volume in this 3+ acre facility connected above and below ground.

It is difficult to comprehend the resources required to build and operate this facility in its prime years from 1984 thru 1994. Privately funded (a relief to know that government funds were not primary source) the facility is the personal boondoggle of a single investor.

Sale of the facility and surrounding property to CDO Ranching and its development partners means a sure if not sudden end to the 75 acres of undisturbed desert landscape surrounding the biosphere.

The remote location will attract wealthy seekers of the remote and private. How could I not understand that?

Meanwhile, a fortunate few continue to occupy resident housing and enjoy the splendor of surrounding desert.

For the solitary visitor from the Northwest, it was a wonderfully cool morning with a stupendous AZ skyscape. And the beauty of these photographs owes little to my inexpensive digital camera and a lot to the clarity of the air and morning light. Ah, Weezie, I dearly hope you can see some of this desert before it is permanently altered.