Molecular chirality plays a key role in science and technology. In particular, life depends on molecular chirality in that many biological functions are inherently dissymmetric.

My father, Kaneki, was a gifted research director of a chemical company, and his profession strongly influenced the path of my life.

Chiral receptor sites in the human body interact only with drug molecules having the proper absolute configuration, resulting in marked differences in the pharmacological activities of enantiomers.

Except for a short period at the end of World War II, I attended an elementary school affiliated to Kobe University from ages six to twelve and then moved on to Nada Middle and High School from ages twelve to eighteen. I enjoyed many out-door activities in my youth.

The truth was, there were four partners in our marriage. Stephen and me, motor neurone disease, and physics. If you took out motor neurone disease, you are still left with physics.

All at once, funding was gone due to the Mansfield Amendment, which was a reaction to the Vietnam War. In the minds of the local RLE administrators, research in gravitation and cosmology was not in the military's interest, and support was given to solid-state physics, which was deemed more relevant.

All writers have roots they draw from - travel, work, family. My roots are in science and it is fertile ground for fiction.

I've been through a lot. I've thought a lot about life, and I've spent a lot of time studying history and science.