Why do we do basic research? To learn about ourselves.

Science doesn't in the slightest depend on trust. It depends completely on the belief that you can demonstrate something for yourself.

Everyone wants a hand in the outcome, a piece of the knowledge.

Early on, it's good to develop the ability to write. Learning to write is a useful exercise, even if what you're writing about is not that relevant.

Today we try to identify a gene and then study its properties.

By asking a novel question that you don't know the answer to, you discover whether you can formulate a way of finding the answer, and you stretch your own mind, and very often you learn something new.

Error is far more common than fraud which probably comprises 1 percent or a tenth of a percent of the literature.