Growing up with strong female role models is always inspiring, and growing up, that was something I aspired to play.

I'm not sure why it's taken so long, but I think people are relating to strong female leads.

I think it's great that you have inspirational female roles, that it's not just the pretty girl on the arm of a man.

I knew exactly what I wanted to do since I could remember. As a kid, if my friends came round after school for dinner, I'd put on shows; I'd write plays and charge the parents £1.50 for a ticket for sweetie money."

Sailing is a big outlet for me. It's one of the key things I've been able to do by commingling science with sailing and my love of the sea. Also, I have several motorcycles, and I like to go on motorcycle trips.

Art and science are intrinsically the same except for one thing. The universe is in control of your science, whether it's right or wrong, and the public are in control of your art - if they're going to buy it, if you're going to make a living that way.

And now, without having wearied my friends, I hope, with detailed scientific accounts, theories, or deductions, I will only say that I have endeavoured to tell just the story of the adventure itself.

A big part of engaging kids in science is not getting the single, correct answer; it's being willing to work with students to discover the correct answer.