Bereavement is terrible, of course. And when somebody you love dies, it's a time for reflection, a time for memory, a time for regret.

What lies at the heart of every living thing is not a fire, not warm breath, not a 'spark of life.' It is information, words, instructions... If you want to understand life, don't think about vibrant, throbbing gels and oozes, think about information technology.

If something is true, no amount of wishful thinking will change it.

The idea of a divine creator belittles the elegant reality of the universe.

Things exist either because they have recently come into existence or because they have qualities that made them unlikely to be destroyed in the past.

I find many of answers in the spiritual realm. That in no way compromises my ability to think rigorously as a scientist.

The machine code of the genes is uncannily computer-like. Apart from differences in jargon, the pages of a molecular biology journal might be interchanged with those of a computer engineering journal.