[MUSIC] (Erika) Welcome to New Frontiers, a show that's all about exploring science, discovery, and innovation happening at the University of Arizona.

I'm your host, Erika Hamden, and I'm here at Biosphere 2, a one-of-a-kind facility owned and operated by the U of A that is designed to model the Earth itself.

When it was first operating back in the 1990s, Biosphere 2 was used in an unprecedented experiment to study whether a complete ecological system could be built to help humans explore and colonize outer space.

Originally, eight people were put behind an airtight seal here, and they had to try and survive for two years using only the self-sustaining food, air, and resources provided by the five major biomes, or ecosystems, growing under the glass.

Today, Biosphere 2 is no longer under an airtight seal, but its biomes still offer an incredible opportunity to study ecology on a grand level.

In fact, this is the world's largest Earth Systems laboratory, and scientists are using it to better understand the impacts of events like climate change.

Biosphere 2 is also an important educational tool.

It's open to the public to visit and explore, and actually this is my first time here, so I am really excited to go on a tour with you.

But, before we go inside, there is a really cool experiment which is happening outside of the glass.

It's called agrivoltaics, and it involves growing food in the shade of solar panels.

The first segment of our episode is all about it, so watch this, and then we'll meet after to explore the agrivoltaics garden together.

So here we are at Biosphere 2.

It's the world's largest enclosed earth system laboratory inside the glass of Biosphere 2.

We study all these different ecosystems around the world, rainforests and oceans and deserts and savanahs and then outside the glass.

It's one of the three places where we're doing this agrivoltaics work, where we're growing food in the shade of solar overhead.

So we first had this idea of growing crops in the shade of solar panels, people said, you're crazy that'll never work.

And that's part of where I took that inspiration from our natural savannahs, looking at those plants growing out in the wild, in shade of other trees, we thought, could the solar panels provide that canopy like a mesquite tree, but without competing for water So we thought when we came up with this idea, we need a phrase for it, and we came up with the idea of agrivoltaics.

and it's simply the first part of the word agriculture.

And the second part of the word photovoltaics, which is that renewable energy that's stacked overhead.

Hey Kai, how's it going?

It's going well.

Ready to plant some bok choy.

Nice.

Let's do it.

Little brown seeds, and we're going to do, uh, we'll do a couple per hole quarter inch deep and we'll do one line today and then one more line each month for the rest of the year.

So part of the reason we're so excited about this idea of agrivoltaics is it solves several of the major climate pressures, and it also helps us meet what the United Nations call Several Sustainable Development Goals.

So in terms of environmental pressures, it helps us deal with those heat waves and those really stressful temperatures that are becoming more pronounced because the plants are in the shade of a solar panel.

So it's like they've got a little umbrella over them during the hot part of the day.

It helps us deal with water stress because anybody knows if you spill your water in the shade versus the sun, where does it stay wet longer?

We've shown you can produce equal amounts of food with half as much water.

From the energy sector, most people don't realize that solar panels actually overheat.

You know, anytime you're above about 75 degrees Fahrenheit and it's sunny, your panels are underperforming because they just get too hot.

So if we can cool them down, you can make them more efficient.

So the crops underneath and the transpirational water loss from those crops is actually cooling down those solar panels.

That's part of why we're building out a national portfolio of agrivoltaic projects.

To understand by region, by climate space.

What do you get and what do you give up and just inform the people who are making those decisions.

And all of these different aspects of science, we've been talking about how we're building on really simple principles, and we like to stress this with the kids that we work with We're basically doing grown up versions of science fair projects.

The kids are doing the same science that we were doing at their schools.

They're learning the same lessons.

They're making the same kinds of observations.

Are there any ideas that anybody would like to share?

In the agrivoltaics Garden, I like to tell the kids, we are all scientists here, I like to tell the kids, we are all scientists here, and so we're learning how to be scientists, so that includes using rulers to measure plants.

We've talked about what differences do you see between the plans in the shade or the plans in the Sun?

And we talk about, OK, what kind of difference are the solar panels making?

That's a beautiful broccoli.

You should be so proud of that.

Today, we did a phrenology class So looking at what lifecycle the plants are in.

I never noticed that.

Look at it.

Every day, there's something new to see, there's something that's growing that wasn't there before, I'm just really glad that the kids have this opportunity, like I would have loved to have a garden like this.

So just, I think just having a garden like this influences them in more ways than we could ever know.

And that's the magic of working with kids, they're inherently curious, they're inherently good problem solvers.

They're going to be the ones that are facing these biggest challenges in terms of energy production and water security and food security.

So let's get them started early in terms of trying to solve those problems.

Ok, looks like, are we all finished?

When people ask, you know, how does this scale up?

How does this grow?

I don't expect to see every farm in the country covered with solar panels.

We're only talking about converting a small percentage of current farms to an agrivoltaic system to have, you know, entire impacts across our country.

I want my kids to be able to ask me, you know, you knew that the world was changing in negative ways, what did you do about it?

I can say that I devoted most of my career towards trying to figure out a more resilient food system.

Agrivoltaics is like, you know, ground zero for thinking about ways that we can think about and understand trade offs between food, energy and water, and so, you know, intellectually in terms of how we manage resources, it's just really fertile ground and exciting to think about this new technology and this new innovation in in this kind of more integrated holistic way.

[Music] (Greg) Hey.

(Erika) Hey, thanks for meeting me.

-Welcome to the Agrivoltaics Garden.

-I'm like really excited to be here.

-We're excited to show you around.

-So tell me what's new.

-Well everything we're growing here is actually just a glorified science project.

Growing half the food under 100% water and half under 50% water.

Okay.

And for example, check out these plants.

Can you tell that this plant is getting twice as much water as the ones in those rows there?

-No, they look exactly the same.

-Thats right.

And that's part of the thing with this agrivoltaics how we can actually cut out half the water and not impact production at all because of the agrivoltaics overhead.

(Erika) That feels like its cheating.

(Greg) It is cheating a little bit.

Because everything is growing so well in this agrivoltaics right now, it's really nice to be able to look over at the control garden, this place that doesn't have that protection of the sun.

And it's really obvious which one is doing better.

-Yeah, I mean I don't want to be out in the sun in Arizona all day.

Right.

And that's the thing -Right.

And that's the thing is animals like us can move to the shade during those hotter times.

Plants can't.

And so we're flipping the script by bringing the shade to them.

-Okay, so last question.

What's the best one for eating?

-Well the least spicy of all of our crops is this chard right here.

You want to try some?

-Yeah definitely.

-One of the benefits of this work is getting to eat the science.

-Here you go.

-All right.

-I'll try with you.

Cheers.

-Well Greg, thank you so much for having me and telling me all about this awesome agrivoltaics garden.

And also thanks for this snack.

I'm going to head out for my tour because I'm really excited to see what's growing inside as well.

-Have fun.

It's awesome.

-I'll see you around.

Take care.

[Door opening] (Erika) Hey.

(John) Hey, how are you?

Welcome to Biosphere.

Welcome to Biosphere 2.

-So I have like one very important question for you.

Where is Biosphere 1?

-You know that's probably the most common question we get.

You know where is Biosphere?

Biosphere 1 is actually Earth.

But when they built Biosphere 2, their whole purpose was to try to model Biosphere 1.

And so they wanted to incorporate biomes or systems that were representative that we have here on Earth in this facility to support not only the atmospheric balance, but also they wanted to incorporate plants that were going to provide nutrient for the people living inside.

So they actually had a farm in here.

-What are the biomes that are here?

-So we've got an ocean, we've got a rainforest in Arizona, we've got a savanna, we actually have a mangrove system, and then we have a coastal fog desert.

-Those all sound really amazing, so.

-I want to show you them.

I can't wait to show you the beach.

Let's go.

Let's go inside.

-All right.

[Music] -So who said there wasn't a beach in Southern Arizona?

-Oh my God.

-Complete with a million gallon ocean.

It's the world's largest research tank.

But more than that, it's actually a living system.

Today the research is really looking at how corals are going to respond to these very dramatic changes that we're seeing worldwide.

The difference for us here is that we can very precisely control the chemistry, we can control the temperature, and so we can do some of those tests here that they can't do in the open ocean or you can't do in the lab just because it's too small.

-So that's a perfect introduction to our next segment, which is all about chemistry.

We're going to hear from University of Arizona instructor Colleen Kelly, who has created this incredible series of comic books that are aimed at grade school kids who are able to learn college level chemistry.

So check it out.

I truly believe everyone can learn chemistry.

It's very beautiful, actually.

And when you uncover the beauty and the mysticism and the patterns, it can be embraced by all.

I'm Dr.Colleen Kelley, and I'm an instructor and laboratory manager at the University of Arizona.

And I've created Kids Chemical Solutions, which is a series of comic books capturing early, eager learners ages 8 to 12 with chemistry comic books.

When I started this project, I made something that I thought would be fun and accessible for kids.

And what I discovered is that eight, nine and ten year olds were learning symbols.

So in my comic books I decided, let's make fun, cute characters and they can balance them instead of the symbols for the elements themselves.

The first characters were Poppy and Rey.

Poppy for polonium and Ray for radium.

Ray has this saying all through the comic books like Zero is our hero.

And that sticks when they know Zero is our hero.

So if cadmium is plus two and oxygens minus two, you can put those together and you get zero.

One of my favorite scenes is where Big Ox and Red and Rusty now are roadies for the heavy metals and Big Ox is star struck by Cobalt and they bump into each other and cobalt asks Big Ox to play a duet.

And he's like, Well, he's a little scared.

He's like,Just so you know, I don't play well on an empty stomach.

And Cobalt sings like, "Don't worry, man, I got you" and lifts up his hat and throws in two electrons.

And that that electron transfer is what really happens in the ionic compound Cobalt oxide.

Big ox eats them.

He's like, Somebody, get me some sunglasses.

Let's rock.

So when I first startedwriting these stories, the drawings were very crude.

I drew like boxes for them stick figures until I realized that I really needed help with the art.

And in walks Mack at that point.

Hey, Mac.

Oh, my gosh.

I first met Mackenzie Reagan when she was 13, and she goes by Mac.

And she was a budding artist.

And while she was in my class, we were working on some of these stories at the time.

They weren't comic books yet.

And I asked Mack if she could help me draw some of these a lot better than my box square figures.

All right.

Are you ready to make some characters?

I am so ready.

Okay, so I am going to surprise you.

All right?

Okay.

So we're going to make water.

Water, H2O.

But when I first think about developing a character, especially if it's a character that's a molecule like water, the first thing that I do is I draw it.

And there's something called a Lewis structure where I would have oxygen in the middle, then two bonds, which are lines and then two hydrogens flanking it.

And in that description, then I would go through that with Mack and say, What do you see?

So let's think about how we can connect this design to a seal.

So I'm seeing like flippers on the H's, maybe.

Oh, good, good.

And we have they have huge eyeballs.

Oh, that's so good.

Massive eyeballs.

So there we go.

That's our water molecule.

Little a little rough sketch of the water molecule.

So once Ihad the comics developed in script format, I realized that I need to test them on kids.

It was during the pandemic, so I did a schedule over Zoom.

But there is a definite bonus to that because I could record those.

Like I actually learned in more detail about like the atomic mass.

One.

Is that actually happening?

Could that happen?

Oh, this is such a good question, Danny.

So what I was looking for in these kids is their ability to speak chemistry.

Because chemistry is a language, and I could hear them be very fluent.

And then after the parentheses, it's a four.

Oh, my gosh.

Yeah.

And that's where I really realized the magic that was happening when I was getting fourth graders doing college level chemistry.

14 for the neutrons.

awesome, you guys very very, very, very, very good.

Yes.

Hmm.

Still needs something.

Lady Papi, would you do the honor of sharing electrons with me?

Now that we're all vaccinated, I was able to work with Olivia Grant.

I've known Olivia since she's been born, so I'm friends with her mom, and she saw the comic books because I brought them over to the house, and she's kind of looking at them.

And I thought, well, third grades, a little young, but let's see.

And her mom, Stephanie, called me and said, Olivia wants to know more.

Right.

And the two mean the copper has a two plus charge.

So I came up there with some props.

I brought a big shower curtain, that's a periodic table, and we laid it out on the ground and I said, Olivia, let's play Twister.

What?

What is that quality?

Yeah, it's phosphorous.

Phosphorus did.

I'd like for the students who are reading these comics to recognize that not one comic book is set in a laboratory and that science transcends the laboratory.

Chemistry is everywhere, and that really is the message.

And I want them to realize that the chemistry starts here in your brain with your imagination.

Should we give a messy swimmer bun to all those swimmers out there?

Yeah.Who live in water and love water.

I really think this project is about raising the bar and learning, but also lowering the bar to accessibility so that students and anybody in the entire world can learn chemistry through this platform.

This is my life's work, and I know that.

And I can keep going until chemistry becomes normal.

Because this is what I'm meant to do.

[MUSIC PLAYING] (Erika) Hey, Colleen.

(Colleen) Hey, Erica.

Great to see you.

-So nice to meet you.

Thanks for coming.

-Of course, of course.

-I can't wait to see these comics.

-Oh, I'm so excited to show you.

Check it out.

We have files one through four of the M.C.

Detective Agencies.

And then we have, in my bag of goodies, we have an activity packet that's games and puzzles and history and a reading guide in there.

-That's so amazing that there are fourth graders who are basically taking college chemistry and loving it.

-You know, I'm cheeky about it and say it's for kids ages 8 to 108.

Because I feel like if you want to learn chemistry, this is the way to do it.

And I feel like if it passed you by, it's not too late.

Pick up a comic book and you'll be fine.

You can teach yourself.

-OK, so files one through four.

What's next?

-Well, we have an animated series coming out.

And it's not exactly with these characters.

It's for a younger age group.

And it's called the Pod Squad because it's a family of ladybugs.

So they're arthropods.

-It's been so great to talk with you and to have a look at these.

They're like so fun and innovative.

But I got to get back and see the rest of the biomes.

-Yeah, I've been checking it out today.

It's awesome here.

So definitely go to the rainforest.

It's a little steamy in there, but well worth it.

[MUSIC PLAYING] (John) So pretty cool that we not only have an ocean in the desert, but we've got a rainforest, a fully established rainforest, with about over 100 species that are in there.

What's really unique about that system is in that rainforest system, you as a researcher, you can come in and say, OK, I want to know how this rainforest is going to respond to an increase in CO2, just like we're going to see in 50 years or 100 years.

We can elevate the CO2 and we can look at how that system responds.

And then what we can do is we can look at what we're observing based what the models are predicting, how do they match up?

And if they don't match up, how do we tune them to improve our predictions?

-So what's the next biome?

-Ok, so we're going to walk down through.

We're going to walk through the savanna, down to the lower savanna, and go into our coastal fog desert.

-All right, let's do it.

[MUSIC PLAYING] [MUSIC PLAYING] (Erika) Well, thank you so much for this tour.

This has been just a really incredible experience.

(John) Well, you're welcome.

And I'm glad we had an opportunity to show you what the University of Arizona is doing with Biosphere 2 today.

-Yeah, this was so great.

And I can't wait to come back.

But we're not done yet.

We still have one more great education segment for you.

And this is about using science to teach art.

We're going to hear from Molly Gebrian, who is a University of Arizona viola professor.

But she's also a neuroscientist.

And she uses her insights into the brain in order to elevate her students in the practice room and in life.

As artists, we are constantly trying to get better at our art.

That's what we do.

And as musicians, we spend the bulk of our lives in the practice room by ourselves trying to play our instruments better and to make the music come alive.

Our brains are what enable us to do that.

From my perspective, if you don't understand how your brain works and how it learns optimally, you're going to waste a lot of time in the practice room.

There is something about music.

The physicality of playing is very appealing to me.

And that's part of what makes it challenging.

Both hands are constantly moving around.

Your brain has to physically change, which means reconstructing itself.

New neurons have to communicate, or neurons that were communicating before have to communicate in a kind of new way.

And that is the first step in getting better at something.

I'm Dr. Molly Gebrian I am the viola professor at the University of Arizona, and I also have a background in neuroscience.

Hey, Gabby, we're in here today.

I got a bigger room for us.

So we've talked about working memory before, right?

I'm sure we have.

Right.

So that's a place like you just have to rely on muscle memory.

(Gabby) Ok, yeah.

(Molly) How did that feel?

(Gabby) It felt okay.

(Molly) I mean, whenever you learn anything new, you're not very good at it at first, right?

You feel clumsy, you feel awkward.

It doesn't work very well.

For instruments, it doesn't sound very good.

And that's because the neurons in your brain aren't communicating well.

And so when we practice, we are creating new pathways.

And that was awesome.

That was awesome.

So, you know, you can play that.

Can we actually... Can you can we do those mental practicing?

Can you do 84 in your head first?

Mental practice in a nutshell for musicians is hearing and feeling inside your head without actually doing something everything you have to hear and feel when you play the instruments.

It works because when you mental practice, you're using the same parts of the brain as when you actually physically practice.

How'd that feel?

(Gabby) It feel good.

I got a little mixed up, but... (Molly) A tiny bit, But that, like, that was hands down the most solid I've heard that section.

Nice.

Applying the neuroscience knowledge is a way to be a better, more impactful, more consistent performer.

I have my first solo recital since before the pandemic.

This was a project that was supposed to happen in 2020, so it's been a long time coming.

I'm really excited about it.

I'm going to be playing three late romantic era cello sonatas that were written by women composers.

(Pianist) This is happening no matter what, right?

(Molly) Yeah.

This program is tiring.

Okay.

We're ready?

My overriding goal in life is to share my knowledge of learning and memory with musicians, to allow musicians to practice and perform the way they want to.

The skills that I try to teach my students, they apply to everything in life.

The way you get better at an instrument, the way you manage your time so you make sure you that you're practicing in.

The way you break down a very difficult piece into small, manageable goals.

All of those things apply to all of life, and learning and growing can be frustrating, right?

It doesn't feel good all the time, but that is the feeling of learning.

That's one of the biggest things is not to fear that feeling and not to run away from that feeling, but to stay with that feeling.

(soft music & applause) (Erika) We had so much fun here at Biosphere 2 that we stayed the entire day.

Thank you so much for joining us here on New Frontiers.

I'm Erica Hamden, and I'll see you next time.

[MUSIC] Make sure to stay tuned for future episodes where we'll explore more of the incredible innovation happening here at the University of Arizona.

And if you want to know what's happening with me, follow my Instagram @ericahamden