In the blockbuster film The Martian stranded astronaut Mark Watney, presumed dead after a fierce storm on the surface, famously grew potatoes as a means to help him survive the hostile planet whilst awaiting rescue.

Computer simulations are used extensively in astronomy, especially when the phenomena in question covers a vast interval of time, like the evolution of the Universe for example.

They were not half living, or quarter living. They were simply so many bags of bones in which sparks of life fluttered faintly.