And that's just the beginning. Grow it in your favorite color. Scientists are creating new breeds of plants and animals using a science called genetic engineering. These scientists have already created salmon that grow several times bigger than natural salmon. They've created new kinds of corn, soybeans and potatoes that are easier and cheaper to grow.
Genetic engineering means taking one organism's gene and placing it into another organism.
Genes hold the code that decides how a plant or animal will grow. It's your genes that determine the color of your eyes or the number of toes on each foot, and you inherit them from your parents, who inherited their genes from their parents. But now scientists have figured out how to take a gene from one plant or animal and put it into another. For example, scientists have made a new type of corn that repels insects. They did it by taking a gene from a plant that naturally produces an insecticide.