There were never any doctors in my family. But my grandparents and my mother had a strong social conscience that was formative.

When I grew up, we didn't have a TV, and I think more families today have ambitions of getting out of their environment, such as sending their children to university.

Having a child is arguably the most important thing you do in life.

I don't know whether it is important to study science at a young age, though current thinking emphasises the need.

Ethics is not routinely taught to science students except in medicine, and I think it should be.

I think it's important for scientists to be a bit less arrogant, a bit more humble, recognising we are capable of making mistakes and being fallacious - which is increasingly serious in a society where our work may have unpredictable consequences.

It's very clear from Biblical history and Jewish history that Jewish monotheism wasn't developed in an instant, that it became gradually the accepted norm. But undoubtedly, Jewish ancestors were polytheists.