We haven't been able yet to determine in terms of genes what makes a human being a human and not another mammal.

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

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

The virtues of science are skepticism and independence of thought.

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

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.

I have the same sense of the power and virtue of knowledge that some people get from a religious background.