Quotes About Science

Accelerating to speeds faster than light was, of course, impossible. General relativity had made that clear enough back in the twentieth century. However, since then a number of ways of circumventing the speed limit had turned up; by now, there were at least six different known methods of moving mass or information from A to B without going through c.

Of course I grew it in a fucking tank! What do you think I am, a farmer?

scientific research is a bottomless money pit. You can approximate Doing Science to standing on the Crack of Doom throwing banknotes down it by the double-handful, in the hope that if you choke the volcano with enough paper it will cough up the One Ring.

The rules of physics are, in some cases, suspiciously anthropic.

This compares to a 202 base pair difference between us and Neanderthals

And then the colossal success of modern natural science and the associated technology can lead us to feel that it unlocks all mysteries, that it will ultimately explain everything, that human science must be developed on the same basic plan, or even ultimately reduced to physics, or at least organic chemistry. And

In the case of a randomized, controlled experiment, the control group is the counterfactual

he definitely wasn't home separating ions in his spare time.

Today we are even manipulating the DNA that makes us possible in the first place—a case of evolution evolving new ways to evolve. (Think about that for a moment.)

DNA neither cares nor knows. DNA just is. And we dance to its music. —Richard Dawkins

In the world of information science, the tricky question of where to put things is known as the "ontology problem.

The muscle cells in your thigh are completely replaced, one at a time, day and night, about every four months. Brand-new muscles, three times a year. The solid leg you've stood on so securely since childhood is mostly new since last summer. Your blood cells are replaced every three months, your platelets every ten days, your bones every couple of years. Your taste buds

The sun is the hottiest planet, and it would burn you if you tried to eat it.

The belief that rational and quantifiable disciplines such as science can be used to perfect human society is no less absurd than a belief in magic, angels, and divine intervention.

When facts are treated as if they were opinions, when there is no universal standard by which to determine truth in law, in science, in scholarship, or in the reporting of events of the day, the world becomes a place where lies become true, where people can believe what they want to believe, where there is no possibility of reaching any conclusion not predetermined by those who interpret the official, divinely inspired text.

That's the show. it's like 5 minutes of science and then 10 minutes of me hurting myself.

The microprocessor is a miracle.

The fact that your liver can regenerate itself is incredible - it's a medical miracle.

Science has nothing in common with religion. Facts and miracles never did and never will agree.

If we become ill, modern medicine can work healing miracles.

Extraordinary miracles, billions and trillions of them, happen all the time, but not because there's a God.

I missed the basic curiosity of being in the lab.

I study orbital dynamics as a hobby. My idea of a good time is sitting down and drawing on that knowledge to imagine a space mission from beginning to end, getting as many details right as I can.

It is my mission to put sensible and evidence-based information above politics and exaggeration.