We often feel that a clever aphorism captures a truth that would require pages to defend in any other way.

The likelihood that inborn differences are one contributor to social status does not mean that it is the only contributor.

Tom Hanks, who starred in 'The Da Vinci Code,' turns out to be related to a number of the historic characters that feature in 'The Da Vinci Code,' including William the Conqueror and Shakespeare.

I think that a failure of statistical thinking is the major intellectual shortcoming of our universities, journalism and intellectual culture.

Technology, ideology, and social and cultural changes periodically throw out new forms of violence for humanity to contend with.

A word is an arbitrary label - that's the foundation of linguistics. But many people think otherwise. They believe in word magic: that uttering a spell, incantation, curse, or prayer can change the world. Don't snicker: Would you ever say, 'Nothing has gone wrong yet' without looking for wood to knock?

Of course the theory of evolution would be vacuous if it offered a glib explanation for every inexplicable act.