Biotechnology was first applied in medicine, then farming. Today, dozens of lifesaving drugs are on the market, while many crops are genetically engineered to withstand weed killers. [...] After decades of unfulfilled promise and billions in government corn subsidies, energy companies may finally be able to produce ethanol easily and inexpensively thanks to breakthroughs in biotechnology.

Most of the five billion gallons of ethanol produced annually in the United States is still made by fermenting corn, but the crop is expensive, and its use in biofuels cuts into the nation"s food supply.