On the occasional clear-frost autumn night，I was hiking through the dark forest with my GMO wolf．Yes，my best friend is a genetically modified organism（转基因生物）； deliberate selection has produced the blunt-toothed，small-pawed wonder that walks by my side．

Our world is changing rapidly．In the last five decades，global population has fully doubled，with 3.7billion hungry mouths added to our planet．During this same time span，the amount of land suitable for agriculture has increased by only 5%．Miraculously，this did not result in the great global famine（饥荒）one might have predicted．

How do scientists modify a plant so that it makes more food than its parents did？We could treat each harvest like a litter of wolf pups and select only plants bearing the fattest，richest seeds for the next season．This was the method our ancestors used to engineer rice，corn and wheat from the wild grasses they encountered．

During my childhood，advances in genetic technologies allowed scientists to identify and clone the genes responsible for repressing stem growth，leading to shorter，stronger stalks that could bear more seed-the high-yield crops that feed us today．The 21st century has brought with it a marvelous new set of high-tech tools with which to further quicken the process of artificial selection．Plant geneticists can now directly edit out or edit in sections of DNA using molecular scissors．We can minimize a plant's weaknesses while adding to its strengths，and we don't have to wait for seasons to pass to test the result．

It is the transformative potential of these techniques to quickly supply the next-generation crops required for upcoming climate change that has led me to believe in the safety and function of GMO plants in agricultural products．We need more GMO research to feed the world that we are creating．

I love the quiet forest that stands between my lab and my home．But I know that as a scientist，I am responsible first to humanity．We must