The amazing thing is that every atom in your body came from a star that exploded.

Keeping religion immune from criticism is both unwarranted and dangerous.

Science is not just there for technology. It's part of what addressing who you are in the universe and understanding your place in the cosmos. Good art, good literature, good music - all of that is for that and science is a part of it.

We live at a very special time . . . the only time when we can observationally verify that we live at a very special time!

Science has been effective at furthering our understanding of nature because the scientific ethos is based on three key principles: (1) follow the evidence wherever it leads; (2) if one has a theory, one needs to be willing to try to prove it wrong as much as one tries to prove that it is right; (3) the ultimate arbiter of truth is experiment, not the comfort one derives from one's a priori beliefs, nor the beauty or elegance one ascribes to one's theoretical models.

There is a maxim about the universe which I always tell my students: That which is not explicitly forbidden is guaranteed to occur.

I can't prove that God doesn't exist, but I'd much rather live in a universe without one.