Anything new is a sort of adventure - as a child, I think I was quite bad at tackling new experiences, like unusual foods, and I hated new clothes or having my hair cut.

I love picture books - with picture books, you can use words and pictures as a double act, even tell two different versions of a story at the same time.

I'd love to collaborate with a writer, but I'm such a control freak, it might be difficult.

I do tend to use watercolors - I love the splatter sort of thing you can do with watercolors.

The final outcome cannot be known, either to the originator of a new theory, or to his colleagues and critics, who are bent on falsifying it. Thus, the scientific innovator may feel all the more lonely and uncertain.

For some reason I can't explain, artist and musicians tend to look younger than our age. Being in music, you need this youthful sense of discovery and wonder for what you're doing and keep your imagination open. That's a youthful way of looking at life and I think that reflects in how you age.

I count myself fortunate to be able to participate in the life of science in this era.

For reasons probably related to the popular vision of Albert Einstein and, also, the threat posed by black holes in comic books and science fiction, our gravitational wave discoveries have had an amazing public impact.