For the record

Our pick of the best recent quotes and comments

We have an outstanding science base but if we do not supercharge it now by investing in people and ideas, it will wither

Adrian Smith, president of the Royal Society, writing in the Times 

Smith says that the next UK prime minister must focus on investing in science. 

I think they should call it a success and stop

Physicist Stephen Bodner quoted in Nature

Bodner, former head of the laser-fusion programme at the US Naval Research Laboratory in Washington DC, says that the National Ignition Facility is at a technological dead end given its failure to recreate the record-breaking “shot” of 1.3 MJ of fusion energy last year. 

They are the blood spatter on the walls of a crime scene

Astrophysicist Stephen Kane from the University of California at Riverside in a press release 

Kane says that rings around planets reveal that something “catastrophic happened to put the material there”.

We can never make assumptions about the entire universe based on what’s happening in our own backyard

Nia Imara from the University of California, Santa Cruz, quoted in Quanta 

Imara, who began a non-profit organization to offer free maths and science tutoring for students of colour, says it is important to study other galaxies to see what possibilities are out there. 

Poetry is an advanced technology like a particle collider or a telescope

Amy Catanzano from Wake Forest University, North Carolina quoted in APS Physics

Catanzano says that both physics and poetry extend the senses, intellect and imagination.

The plan had always been to take the show on the road, and now we potentially can

Particle physicist Herbert Dreiner from the University of Bonn quoted in APS Physics

The first performance series of “Phyusical” – a show that mixes singing with live experiments – was expected to begin in August following COVID-19-related delays.