Something we all have as kids and is beaten out of us as adults. Parents come up to me, "How do I get my kids interested in science?" They're already interested in science. Just stop beating it out of them.

Any time we are answer-driven rather than idea driven, we have lost the true meaning of education.

We're an elective democracy where science and technology will define where the economically strong countries in the world will be. And science and technological literacy is important for security, as well.

Society needs to see science not as a luxury of funding but as a fundamental activity that drives enlightenment, economics, and security.

When you're a hammer (as the saying goes), all your problems look like nails. If you're a meteorite expert pondering the sudden extinction of boatloads of species, you'll want to say an impact did it. If you're an igneous petrologist, volcanoes did it. If you're into spaceborne bioclouds, an interstellar virus did it. If you're a hypernova expert, gamma rays did it.

Plenty of people get excited about the universe.

Like a snowplow in overdrive, a supernova shockwave might sweep away any gas clouds in its path.