Growing up in Highland Park, in high school, I had some very influential teachers: I had a math teacher who taught calculus that helped me learn to be in love with mathematics; I had a chemistry teacher who inspired us to work what was in the class and to go beyond.

As a young boy growing up on the South Side of Chicago, I was inspired by the nascent space age.

I see no difference between scientific exploration and human exploration.

I think that space exploration as a broad activity is the most important things that humans can do. I've always found it fascinating, interesting, compelling, and I have a drive to go out into space.

We want to assert the very principle that truth is absolute, truth is supreme, truth is never disposable in national political life.

What is the intersection between technology, art and science? Curiosity and wonder, because it drives us to explore, because we're surrounded by things we can't see.

The biggest lesson I've learned by living abroad for the last four years is the importance of communication.

A regular old drag queen is usually your science teacher who's actually wearing women's panties underneath his slacks. A drag-queen superstar is someone who actually works in clubs and makes a living doing it more than one night a year, or even one night in six months.