Roald Dahl's George's Marvelous Medicine is a classic children's story. George becomes frustrated with his grouchy grandma and creates a home-made medicinal concoction in hopes of cheering her up. George manages to create a magical grow potion which makes his grandma house-sized. Seeing the large grandma, George's farmer father immediately wants some of the potion for his livestock, but sadly George cannot recreate the recipe.
This story reflects the human desire for a magic grow potion, the most obvious human quick-fix for world hunger. Though Dahl's story is entertainingly wacky and highly implausible, the end means are not so crazy. Science is trying to create what George stumbled upon accidentally: some heavy duty miracle-grow. The goal of genetic engeneering is to create heartier crops and larger harvests in hopes of making goods more bountiful, less expensive, and more avaliable. Some people fear genetic engieneering will go too far, and this has resulted in a back-to-basics sort of movement.
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