Angry Red Planet
 

LENGTH:
Takes a half hour to get to the "solve-it" page.

WHAT'S IT ABOUT?
Okay, there's s this spaceflight simulator, right? They're trying to create a miniature little biosphere, where plants convert the carbon dioxide that astronauts breathe out back into oxygen the astronauts can breathe in. But the balance is going wrong.

WHY SHOULD I TRY IT?
Look, you wanna go to Mars, don't you? This is the first step.

THEMES:
Besides the usual ScienceMystery themes (literacy, inquiry-based learning, problem-solving logic, inductive and deductive reasoning), "Angry Red Planet" gets you hands-on with facts about respiration, ecosystems and ecological cycles, chemical and biochemical reactions, carbon dioxide poisoning, and the effects of stress on human physiology and psychology.