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**A SPECIAL EDITION BIOSPHERE 2 MAGAZINE**

One of the key goals for any researcher is to link findings, ideas, concepts and goals to a story. These stories are old, begun centuries ago when the first methodical inquiries into the natural world were put forward by thinkers like Descartes, Newton and Kepler. The stories have changed over the years, but the need to link them to research is vital to improving our understanding of the world around us.

A similar need drives our understanding of place, of history and of identity. On Oct. 5, 2012, the University of Arizona Science Journalism class taught by Carol Schwalbe set out to find Biosphere 2’s story. What we found, I’d argue, is a place still working out its self-understanding, a place trying to figure out its history as it strives to become an active interface between science and the public.