The method of science, as stodgy and grumpy as it may seem, is far more important than the findings of science.

The universe forces those who live in it to understand it.

We on Earth have just awakened to the great oceans of space and time from which we have emerged.

So those who wished for some central cosmic purpose for us, or at least our world, or at least our solar system, or at least our galaxy, have been disappointed, progressively disappointed. The universe is not responsive to our ambitious expectations.

For years I've been stressing with regard to UFOs that extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence.

The way to find out about our place in the universe is by examining the universe and by examining ourselves - without preconceptions, with as unbiased a mind as we can muster.

After the earth dies, some 5 billion years from now, after it's burned to a crisp, or even swallowed by the Sun, there will be other worlds and stars and galaxies coming into being - and they will know nothing of a place once called Earth.