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.

On some issues, I'm a staunch Conservative — like curtailing greenhouse gas emissions so that we can Conserve the environment.

Our nation is turning into an idiocracy.

Science is a philosophy of discovery. Intelligent design is a philosophy of ignorance. You cannot build a program of discovery on the assumption that nobody is smart enough to figure out the answer to a problem.

Facts are true whether or not you believe them.

The Venus transit is not a spectacle the way a total solar eclipse is a spectacle.

A supernova is one of the most powerful explosions in the universe. It's so luminous, it can be seen across billions of light years. It releases as much energy in an instant as our sun will produce over its 10-billion-year lifetime.