In three minutes, 98 percent of all the matter there is or will ever be has been produced. We have a universe

It is always quietly thrilling to find yourself looking at a world you know well but have never seen from such an angle before.

[The Royal Society] is quite simply the voice of science in Britain. It is intellectually rigorous, not afraid to be outspoken on controversial issues such as climate change, but it is not aggressively secular either, insisting on a single view of the world. In fact, there are plenty of eminent scientists - Robert Winston, for instance - who are also men of faith.

I'm not funny in person. I mean I'm really not. I'm one of those people who always screw up anecdotes.

South Dakota... is like the world's first drive-through sensory deprivation chamber.

I can't fix the world. If you want to make a difference in life, you have to direct your energies in a focused way.

In the morning I awoke early and experienced that sinking sensation that overcomes you when you first open your eyes and realize that instead of a normal day ahead of you, with its scatterings of simple gratifications, you are going to have a day without even the tiniest of pleasures; you are going to drive across Ohio.