It's very important that there should be cross-fertilisation between government and academia. Both parties can benefit from having a better understanding of how the other works.

I've never really had much of a career plan, and interesting opportunities kept cropping up.

Enlightened self-interest from those involved in hydrocarbons should lead to the support of technologies enabling the clean use of hydrocarbons, such as carbon capture and storage, and not to the defence of deniers and cranks.

I think it's important that people think about what they are doing and that includes what they are eating. I am 61 now and attitudes towards drinking and driving have changed radically since I was a student. People change their notion of what is responsible. They will increasingly ask about the carbon content of their food.

In 2001, President George W. Bush was condemned for politicizing science with his decision to limit federal funding for stem-cell research; in 2009 President Obama was praised for reversing it, even though his decision was arguably just as political.

Cancer is messy and scary. You throw everything at it, but don't forget to throw love at it. It turns out that might be the best weapon of all.

Pakistan is rich in sporting talent, but the only thing needed is to have sincere and honest administrators who should be held accountable by the government. Pakistan should be recognised as a sporting nation and not as a terrorist country.

We can bring health care back to the states and bring power back to patients. I think of that commercial from 1984 when Apple took a hammer and broke the screen.