The central moral issue of science is that we do not have a science of peace and hardly know where to begin in building one.

By the time I was 12 or 13, I was studying biochemistry textbooks.

I certainly saw science as a kind of calling, and one with as much legitimacy as a religious calling.

I believe I am a person with unusual talents. I think I'd be a liar or stupid if I were to deny that.

I get curious about new things. My real strength is going into a field that has not been investigated before, and finding new approaches to it.

As soon as you go into any biological process in any real detail, you discover it's open-ended in terms of what needs to be found out about it.

Although I am a public figure, I'm still a little shy. I don't think my own personality is important. I prefer to keep some small dosage of privacy.