But is it possible to actually grow food in Martian soil? Yes, and not just potatoes, says Bruce Bugbee, a real-life botanist and NASA scientist. In "The Martian," Watney grows his own food by ...

THERE are lots of ideas on how humans can terraform Mars, and turn the dusty, radioactive Red Planet into something habitable ...

He grows potatoes in a mixture of Martian soil and the content of his toilet (yeuch!), something scientists have mimicked in a lab, though getting enough light for the plants to grow on Mars is ...