It's a heartening fact about the human race that utopian fiction precedes dystopian fiction in the evolution of literature.
We are just an advanced breed of monkeys on a minor planet of a very average star. But we can understand the Universe. That makes us something very special.
We are in danger of destroying ourselves by our greed and stupidity. We cannot remain looking inwards at ourselves on a small and increasingly polluted and overcrowded planet.
I am just a child who has never grown up. I still keep asking these 'how' and 'why' questions. Occasionally, I find an answer.
Look up at the stars and not down at your feet. Try to make sense of what you see, and wonder about what makes the universe exist. Be curious.
It's a pity that nobody has found an exploding black hole. If they had, I would have won a Nobel prize.
Even if there is only one possible unified theory, it is just a set of rules and equations. What is it that breathes fire into the equations and makes a universe for them to describe?
I think it quite likely that we are the only civilization within several hundred light years; otherwise we would have heard radio waves.
I wouldn't be here today if it were not for the NHS. I have received a large amount of high-quality treatment without which I would not have survived.
There is no physical law precluding particles from being organised in ways that perform even more advanced computations than the arrangements of particles in human brains.
Some scientists think it may be possible to capture a wormhole and enlarge it many trillions of times to make it big enough for a human or even a spaceship to enter.
As a child, I wanted to know how things worked and to control them. With a friend, I built a number of complicated models that I could control.
[In the Universe it may be that] Primitive life is very common and intelligent life is fairly rare. Some would say it has yet to occur on Earth.
There is a fundamental difference between religion, which is based on authority, and science, which is based on observation and reason. Science will win because it works.
From now on when people asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I planned to say, Amnesiac.
I decided to coin the term 'cosy crime noir' for Brighton Belle. That is 'cosy crime' for today's sensibilities because there is that slightly edgy element to it.
Teachers today are breaking down obstacles, finding innovative ways to instill old lessons, proving that greatness can be found in everyday places.
In 1975 I met Alison Brown and in 1982 we were married. She works for Cornell Computer Services.
Irreverence not only shows disrespect to Deity but also makes it hard for the Spirit to teach us the things we need to know.
I see lots of differences between Australians and Americans - but as mothers, I think we're pretty much alike!
I believe all complicated phenomena can be explained by simpler scientific principles.
