Amazing things happen when you pull individual pieces of information together into larger linked datasets: meaning emerges, as you produce facts from figures.

You cannot reason people out of a position that they did not reason themselves into.

Positive findings are around twice as likely to be published as negative findings. This is a cancer at the core of evidence-based medicine.

You are a placebo responder. Your body plays tricks on your mind. You cannot be trusted.

Just just because there are flaws in aircraft design that doesn't mean flying carpets exist.

As it is a major component of blood, water is vital for transporting oxygen to the brain. Heaven forbid that your blood should dry out.

Transparency and detail are everything in science.

Homeopathy pills are, after all, empty little sugar pills which seem to work, and so they embody [..] how we can be misled into thinking that any intervention is more effective than it really is.

The plural of anecdotes is not data

Real science is all about critically appraising the evidence for somebody else's position.

I spend a lot of time talking to people who disagree with me - I would go so far as to say that it's my favourite leisure activity.

Only be rebellious for good reasons.

I’ve only been to jail a few times, but in several different countries, at that. No, I've only been to jail a few times. But I still claim the ability to write a "serious" novel.

I refuse to give up when things go wrong because there is always a sliver lining behind the cloud.

Choas errupted amoung the watchers. They didn't think it was over at all. "He cheated! He used fire!""No, he won fairly enough!"

If Africa seeks prosperity, it must provide for the health and nutrition of all – including the poorest.

A joke is necessary at this time.

I met someone who said they'd figured out my genre: "madcap redemption comedy." I'll buy that.

In the long run, the public interest depends on private virtue.

Working with Monk is like falling down a dark elevator shaft.

First and foremost, The Quiet Invasion is a first contact story. What would we do if we actually found evidence of alien life out there? It's also about politics.