Greenday

Ethical debates currently rage over genetically modified plants and animals. However, as millions die of starvation each year, and far more suffer from malnutrition, sickness and blindness due to flood, drought, disease and vitamin deficiencies in local food sources, the debate has practical implications. A recent article from Discover Magazine takes a look at some of the hope that science has to offer... (please click on the link or this photo for the neat pictures and stories about the food)

Hope for the Hungry

It's been almost 20 years since the first genetically modified (GM) crop was approved for commercialization, and still the range of biotech foods available to the public is paltry. Soybeans, corn and cotton that tolerate high doses of herbicides and fend off pests―technologies that benefit rich-world farmers―are nearly all the choices we have.

But scientists have the tools to engineer crops that can benefit far needier populations. Here is a sampling of a few of those crops in development. The trick is finding a profitable way to get these crops out of the lab and past convoluted regulations.

-Emily Waltz, Discover Magazine