Saturday, 18 May, 2013

All good things must come to an end, they say, but it isn’t true.

Some people find sea gulls annoying, but they have their uses.

Life is all about three things – eating, sleeping and getting old. Think about it.

Scientists are always celebrating past accomplishments. And why not? They’ve got a lot to celebrate.

All things considered, the war against cancer is going better than that other war in progress at the moment — even though cancer research gets a lot less money.

Evolution is complicated. That’s why it took a genius — namely, Charles Darwin — to figure out how it happened. And that’s also why so many people today have a hard time believing that it happened at all.

A question from a very young reader, as relayed by his mother: “Where does the future come from, mommy? I don’t understand. How does it get here?”

In many ways, science is all about finding the meaning in the mysteries of math.

If you take Avandia for diabetes, or any medicine approved for anything, you perhaps have been alarmed when the media reports some previously undetected danger that might turn a life-saving drug into a killer.

Applicants for George W. Bush’s job have to go through a grueling process, such as being subjected to quiz questions during media events disguised as debates.

Over the years, the mysteriously rapid way in which humans learn language has given scientists a lot to talk about.

Imagine what you could do if you could shine light through a wall. OK, maybe not much, unless you’re a stage magician. But suppose you could shine light all the way through the Earth. Now you’ve got a communication system that would make WiFi seem like tin cans and a string.

Seeking immortality, as many writers have warned, is not such a good idea. There are too many negatives. Your friends will all die, you’ll have to cope with global warming, and your Social Security payments will surely run out sooner or later.

Time is nature’s way of keeping everything from happening all at once, as Woody Allen became famous for saying.

For evolution to produce complicated forms of life, offspring must resemble their parents.