"The universe is large and old, and the ingredients for life as we know it are everywhere, so there's..." — Neil deGrasse Tyson

As an American, I grew up in an era where we led the world in everything. Everything!

I've known from long ago that the universe was calling me. If you were one of those annoying adults that said, 'Oh, what are you gonna be when you grow up?' I would say, 'Astrophysicist.' And then they'd walk away real quickly.

Humans aren't as good as we should be in our capacity to empathize with feelings and thoughts of others, be they humans or other animals on Earth. 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.'

In nature, when you conduct science, it is the natural world that is the ultimate decider in what is true and what is not.