Does the full moon affect people's behavior, you ask? Yup. It makes people think the full moon affects people's behavior.

We're talking about a being whose very existence challenges our own sense of priority in the universe.

Next time you're stunned by a large moon on the horizon, bend over and view it between your legs. The effect goes away entirely.

The universe is so amazing and so limitless, who wouldn't want to study the universe?

Every account of a higher power that I've seen described, of all religions that I've seen, include many statements with regard to the benevolence of that power. When I look at the universe and all the ways the universe wants to kill us, I find it hard to reconcile that with statements of beneficence.

If we want to unlock the secret behind the origin of our sun and its planets, it would be helpful to find some remnants from the birth itself, an event that took place about four-and-a-half-billion years ago.

The center line of science literacy - which not many people tell you, but I feel this strongly, and I will go to my grave making this point - is how you think.