If you have children who think orange soda is a healthy breakfast, give them the software game called “Hungry Red Planet” — you soon may find them reaching for the orange juice instead. “Hungry Red Planet” is an innovative computer simulation produced by Health Media Lab, under a grant from the National Institutes for Health. The program teaches about healthy eating by placing children in charge of menu planning for a group of settlers on the planet of Mars. In this game, Mars has become habitable because it collided with an icy comet. Players travel to Mars to become the governor and are assigned the task of colonizing Mars by establishing healthy, food-producing settlements. As a secondary goal, players explore Mars for a previous settlement that has been lost.
