If you have not seen The Martian this contains spoilers. You have been warned.

Can we just talk about the fact that Mark Watney managed to grow potatoes on Mars? I think this exemplifies the importance of knowing how to grow food. I know the vast majority of us will never be forced to grow food in space but it is a very useful life skill. Without plants we would all die due to lack of food. (Side note I am not a plant science major but shoutout to all the plant science majors). We all eat food everyday (at least I hope we all do) but how many of us actually think about where that food come from and how its grown. How many of us if put in a survival situation would be able to grow our own food? How many of us if we were dropped in the middle of the woods would know which plants are edible or inedible. I personally have know some survival skills (i.e. shelter building, fire building, etc) however after discussing it with a friend it is clear that many people lack the skill necessary to survive in an emergency situation. I think this has made me reflect on what survival skills I possess and what skills I need to learn. I know a lot of people spend their lives indoors and hate going into the woods so it seems abstract but they are important skills that are necessary for survival in an emergency situation.

I would also like to say it is incredible that he managed to fix so many things with duct tape. While I think duct tape is useful for fixing things I don’t think it would ever be able to airlock the hub. I know these are really random thoughts but overall the movie was amazing and as a science nerd I loved it.