Let’s Eat Out

NASA

At this year’s Oscars, The Martian was nominated for seven awards (including best picture), in part for its realistic portrayal of an effort to grow extraterrestrial crops. How realistic was it? The UW’s Simon Gilroy told Madison’s WISC-TV that The Martian “is an awesome movie” with “really good and accurate science.” And he’d know. His lab has helped NASA grow plants in space. Astronauts on the International Space Station even ate some of his lettuce, which they grew in orbit. “We’re right at the dawn of space agriculture,” he says.