Anybody who grew up with the space program is a fan of science fiction.

Science is the best idea humans have ever had. The more people who embrace that idea, the better.

I abandoned my religious teachings after I read the Bible twice - cover to cover. It took me a couple of years.

I meet so many people who are intimidated by arithmetic.

You start doing the addictive behavior to feel good and then your receptors get overloaded with dopamine, then you stop doing the addictive thing and some of the receptors have shut down and you don't have enough dopamine to feel good. So then you feel bad and go back to the addictive behavior to get more dopamine. The strange thing is that it works with what we think of as uppers and downers and whatever you call gambling - sidewaysers.

When we explore the cosmos, we come to believe and prove that we can solve problems that have never been solved. It brings out the best in us. Space exploration imbues everyone with an optimistic view of the future.

Our goal in science is to discover universal laws of nature. That pursuit fills me with wonder.