At every stage of my career I have had interesting and cordial colleagues, some of whom are close friends.

My parents came to the United States in the early years of this century as part of a wave of Russian Jewish immigrants seeking freedom and opportunity in the New World.

I also found out that I liked biochemical research and that I could do it.

As I look back on the last few decades of my life, I am struck by the good fortune that came my way.

Chemistry was my college interest. Cooking is about chemistry.

That's what I want to do, ultimately: figure out a way to get the world engaged with discovery and protecting these ancient sites.

Philadelphia's a good science-fiction town. There are many professional writers here, like Michael Swanwick, Tom Purdom, Gregory Frost, Victoria McManus and others. There are professional artists such as Bob Walters and Tess Kissinger and Susan McAninley.

I always wanted to at least visit Dubai - it was a city that I loved to watch on the Discovery Channel. It had the world's biggest everything and clearly had a vision to stand out.