Humans evolved brains that are pattern-recognition machines, adept at detecting signals that enhance or threaten survival amid a very noisy world. ... But there is only one surefire method of proper pattern recognition, and that is science.

Science is the best tool ever devised for understanding how the world works.

... In a free society, skeptics are the watchdogs against irrationalism - the consumer advocates of ideas. Debunking is not simply the divestment of bunk; its utility is in offering a better alternative, along with a lesson on how thinking goes wrong.

Rationality tied to moral decency is the most powerful joint instrument for good that our planet has ever known.

Remember always that we are pattern-seeking primates who are especially adept at finding patterns with emotional meaning.

Because of the complexity of the problem, environmental skepticism was once tenable. No longer. It is time to flip from skepticism to activism.

Either the soul survives death or it does not, and there is no scientific evidence that it does.