How smart does a chimpanzee have to be before killing him constitutes murder?

Science arouses a soaring sense of wonder. But so does pseudoscience. Sparse and poor popularizations of science abandon ecological niches that pseudoscience promptly fills. If it were widely understood that claims to knowledge require adequate evidence before they can be accepted, there would be no room for pseudoscience.

Even today the most jaded city dweller can be unexpectedly moved upon encountering a clear night sky studded with thousands of twinkling stars. When it happens to me after all these years it still takes my breath away.

In a lot of scientists, the ratio of wonder to skepticism declines in time. That may be connected with the fact that in some fields-mathematics, physics, some others-the great discoveries are almost entirely made by youngsters.

It is the tension between creativity and skepticism that has produced the stunning and unexpected findings of science.

Other things being equal, it is better to be smart than to be stupid.

I would be very ashamed of my civilization if we did not try to find out if there is life in outer space.