Curiosity is a self-driven motivation to explore and to learn. Learning is like... you know, you have to take your medicine. And that is what it has become. And that's unfortunate.

Science reveals that all life on Earth is one.

I'm optimistic. I see no longer people accepting fuzzy thinking in the world. The change is not that people aren't still saying under-informed things. The change is that if you're in power and you say something under-informed, there are people out there with a voice who will take you to task for having done so.

To be scientifically literate is to empower yourself to know when someone else is full of shit.

All the nine-planet people out there: Get over it. There's eight.

I've accomplished enough in life so that I do not fear death.

The first colony on Mars is not going to be built by a private company. How are you going to make money? You're not.

So maybe part of our formal education should be training in empathy. Imagine how different the world would be if, in fact, that were 'reading, writing, arithmetic, empathy.'

The people talking on their cell phone and following GPS instructions to where grandma's house is saying I don't need space -- excuse me, that's how you know where grandma lives, and when to make the left turn.

The depth of experience fine wine can bring to a dinner, particularly a bottle that has been through the past 100 years, makes you take stock of your own life.

Photons are accurately and legitimately described as waves and particles at the same time. They are genuine wavicles.

The tenacity of life is mind-boggling. We keep finding it where no one thought it could be.

If the only time you think of me as a scientist is during Black History Month, then I must not be doing my job as a scientist.

While I'm a big fan of science fiction, especially as rendered in expensive Hollywood blockbusters, it's the real universe that calls to me. To fall into a black hole, that is more amazing than anything I've ever read in a science-fiction story.

Odd how often blood is shed to obtain freedom from those in power. Oppressors must be the most insecure people in the world.

We only went to the moon for military reasons. The space enthusiasts of the day kept saying, Oh, we're on the moon; we should be on Mars in ten years. That's if it was driven by exploration, but it's never been driven by exploration.

Why can't Pluto be a planet? Some people like Pluto. And if it doesn't exist then they don't have a favorite planet. Right? Please write back but not in cursive because I can't read cursive.

In five billion years, the sun will expand and engulf our orbit as the charred ember that was once Earth vaporizes. Have a nice day.

If there's some kind of rock star status, would I be irresponsible if I didn't somehow use it for a continued greater good? I'm always involved in some way with reaching the public.

I'm fascinated by the deaths of stars and the havoc they wreak on their environments.