February 18, 2000

A Second Act for Biosphere 2

Columbia U. provides direction and credibility for a unique and controversial research facility

By MARTIN VAN DER WERF

The coral looked healthy, a rusty red and brownish-green. But, over the long term, it was dying -- growing at such a slow rate that the fringes of the reef were eroding.

The affliction was not like the coral bleaching that is affecting tropical reefs worldwide, the instantly obvious sign that the algae that live in some coral polyps have died.

What the research scientist Christopher Langdon was witnessing was a more insidious problem, one caused, he believes, by the rising