The near side of a galaxy is tens of thousands of light-years closer to us than the far side; thus we see the front as it was tens of thousands of years before the back. But typical events in galactic dynamics occupy tens of millions of years, so the error in thinking of an image of a galaxy as frozen in one moment of time is small.

Except in pure mathematics, nothing is known for certain (although much is certainly false).

People are not stupid. They believe things for reasons. The last way for skeptics to get the attention of bright, curious, intelligent people is to belittle or condescend or to show arrogance toward their beliefs.

Perhaps the depth of love can be calibrated by the number of different selves that are actively involved in a given relationship.

There are no forbidden questions in science, no matters too sensitive or delicate to be probed, no sacred truths.

A book is proof that humans are capable of working magic.

Religions are often state-protected nurseries of pseudoscience, although there's no reason why religions have to play that role. In a way, it's an artefact from times long gone.