It's always a tough call deciding whether, as a scientist, you should argue publicly with the creationists. It's a dilemma that I encounter frequently in another subject area: Does it make sense to bandy words with someone from the UFO community?

Give me a museum and I'll fill it.

I know there's a farmer out there somewhere who never wants a PC and that's fine with me.

I don't want to write an autobiography because I would become public property with no privacy left.

I am sometimes sad when I hear the personal stories of Tibetan refugees who have been tortured or beaten. Some irritation, some anger comes. But it never lasts long. I always try to think at a deeper level, to find ways to console.