Members in the Media

“If you would only replace the radars by real radars and you replace the interceptors by faster interceptors and you find some way of discriminating between a warhead and a decoy, then yes, it’s a good foundation for moving forward.”
Richard Garwin, IBM, on a Department of Defense report highlighting challenges facing the United State’s missile shield, The Associated Press, April 21, 2012.

“All you need to know is classical mechanics and a little bit of geometry.”
Dmitri Krioukov, University of San Diego, on the physics he used in his paper to get out of a traffic ticket, The Los Angeles Times, April 23, 2012.

“One of the most basic questions in cosmology is whether the universe had a beginning or has simply existed forever… It was addressed in the singularity theorems of Penrose and Hawking, with the conclusion that the initial singularity is not avoidable.”
Alexander Vilenkin, Tufts University, from a paper published with mathematician Audrey Mithani analyzing the beginning of the universe, The Daily Mail, April 25, 2012.

“Given the international attention it has gotten from parading these missiles you could argue that the cost of buying the large trucks–which add a lot of credibility to the images of the missiles–was money well spent in terms of projecting an image of power.”
David Wright, Union of Concerned Scientists, on the possibility that North Korea was showing off fake ICBMs before its failed missile launch, The Associated Press, April 26, 2012.

“[W]e should be looking at what the wiring diagram [inside of cells] looks like.”
László Barabási, Northeastern University, on how genes from disparate diseases might trigger each other, The Wall Street Journal, April 30, 2012.

“There’s nothing better than waking up in the morning with a new idea. I feel lucky to be able to pursue these ideas, day-in and day-out, and to know that every once in a while, a new idea will turn into a whole new approach for doing things that can actually change the world.”
Jacob Taylor, NIST, The Washington Post, May 7, 2012.

“Of course, there are ways to control coffee spilling…a flexible container to act as a sloshing absorber in suppressing liquid oscillations, a series of annular ring baffles arranged around the inner wall of the container to achieve sloshing suppression, or a different shape cup.”
Rouslan Krechetnikov, University of California Santa Barbara, on his research into spilling coffee, MSNBC.com, May 9, 2012.

“I just wanted to say I had a little bit of this when I would meet with scientists, and many of them would basically say something along the lines of: What ever led you to go to Congress? I mean, what was wrong with your mind that you decided to do that? And scientists tend to look down on it. And I just thought it was a great opportunity to continue educating, which I had done for many years as a professor.”
Former Congressman Vernon Ehlers, on scientists’ aversion to serving in public office, National Public Radio, May 11, 2012.

“They’re saying cancer research is bad? It’s a strange message.’’
Herbert Levine, University of California San Diego, referring to tobacco-industry-sponsored advertisements in California opposing a new cigarette tax, The Los Angeles Times, May 12, 2012.

“The [obesity] epidemic was caused by the overproduction of food in the United States. Beginning in the 1970s, there was a change in national agricultural policy. Instead of the government paying farmers not to engage in full production, as was the practice, they were encouraged to grow as much food as they could. At the same time, technological changes and the “green revolution” made our farms much more productive. The price of food plummeted, while the number of calories available to the average American grew by about 1,000 a day.”
Carson Chow, National Institutes of Health, The New York Times, May 14, 2012.