I hold that popularization of science is successful if, at first, it does no more than spark the sense of wonder.

Be grateful everyday for the brief but magnificent opportunity that life provides.

Our ancestors lived out of doors. They were as familiar with the night sky as most of us are with our favorite television programs.

What's the harm of a little mystification? It sure beats boring statistical analyses.

Science is a collaborative enterprise, spanning the generations. When it permits us to see the far side of some new horizon, we remember those who prepared the way - seeing for them also.

In the deepest sense the search for extraterrestrial intelligence is a search for ourselves.

These are all cases of proved or presumptive baloney. A deception arises, sometimes innocently but collaboratively, sometimes with cynical premeditation. Usually the victim is caught up in a powerful emotion -- wonder, fear, greed, grief. Credulous acceptance of baloney can cost you money; that's what P. T. Barnum meant when he said, 'There's a sucker born every minute.' But it can be much more dangerous than that, and when governments and societies lose the capacity for critical thinking, the results can be catastrophic -- however sympathetic we may be to those who have bought the baloney.