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David Quammen
(1948 - )
writer whose science, nature and travel articles have been published in magazines like National Geographic and Outside. For the latter, for fifteen years he contibuted the column, Natural Acts.
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Science Quotes by David Quammen (1 quote)
[Theory is] an explanation that has been confirmed to such a degree, by observation and experiment, that knowledgeable experts accept it as fact. That's what scientists mean when they talk about a theory: not a dreamy and unreliable speculation, but an explanatory statement that fits the evidence. They embrace such an explanation confidently but provisionally - taking it as their best available view of reality, at least unil some severely conflicting data or some better explanation might come along."
— David Quammen
'Was Darwin Wrong?'. National Geographic (Nov 2004), 206, 4.
At the heart of science is an essential balance between two seemingly contradictory attitudes--an openness to new ideas, no matter how bizarre or counterintuitive they may be, and the most ruthless skeptical scrutiny of all ideas, old and new. This is how deep truths are winnowed from deep nonsense. -- Carl Sagan
