Civilization depends on our expanding ability to produce food efficiently, which has markedly accelerated thanks to science and technology.

The influence of a science adviser is only as good as ears open to that science advice.

For me science is not different from art, except in the one small, crucial detail that experiments speak their own truths, not ours.

In the last century, as we learned more about genes, we were able to devise ways of accelerating evolution.

Even as the population doubled from three to six billion, we managed to race ahead with all kinds of technological and scientific events in agriculture - from using more fertilizers to mechanization to advanced plant breeding.

India has the opportunity to be a leader in genetic engineering, It has institutions that no other country has.

Jumping genes are fundamental because they're agents of change. Everybody knows that organisms evolve. What makes them evolve is that their genes are dynamic and in motion. A familiar example is the stripe-y corn - called Indian corn - that you buy in the fall.