Control Group A group in a study that is treated in exactly the same way as the experimental group, apart from the factor you're investigating.

Model A simplified picture of what's physically going on.

Prediction/Hypothesis A specific testable statement, based on a theory, about what will happen in a test situation.

Peer Review Where a scientific report is sent out to peers (other scientists) who examine the data and results, and if they think that the conclusion is reasonable it's published.

Variable A quantity that has the potential to change, e.g. weight, temperature, concentration.

Prediction/Hypothesis A specific testable statement, based on a theory, about what will happen in a test situation

Precise Result A result that is really close to the mean.

Random Error A difference in measurement caused by an unpredictable factor, e.g. human error.

Repeatable Result A Result that can be repeated by the same person using the same method and equipment.

Reproducible Result A result that can be consistently reproduced in an independent experiment.

Valid Conclusion A conclusion that answers the original question.

Accurate Result A result that is really close to the true answer.

Variable A quantity that has the potential to change, e.g. weight, temperature, concentration.

Independent Variable The variable you change in an experiment.

Dependent Variable The variable you measure in an experiment.

Placebo A dummy pill or injection that looks exactly like the real drug, but doesn't contain the drug.

Sample size The number of samples in the investigation, e.g. the number of people in a drug trial

If you expect life to be easy, challenges will seem difficult. If you accept that challenges may occur, life will be easier.

I don't know if he was the fourth man or the fifth, but he was certainly in the top 10.

Well done is better than well said.

Go not to the Elves for counsel, for they will say both no and yes.

Going to the movies still remains, arguably, amongst the best communal experiences that human beings can share.

Feckless as it was for Bush to ask Americans to go shopping after 9/11, we all too enthusiastically followed his lead, whether we were wealthy, working-class or in between. We spent a decade feasting on easy money, don't-pay-as-you-go consumerism and a metastasizing celebrity culture.

I have a need to play intensely every day, to fight every match hard.

Keep your head held high because the floor isn't very interesting to look at.

I work very hard to keep on an even keel as far as alcohol is concerned.

It's imperative that we opt out of the fossil fuel endgame.

I failed the LSAT. Basically, if I had not failed, I'd have been a lawyer and there would be no Spanx. I think failure is nothing more than life's way of nudging you that you are off course. My attitude to failure is not attached to outcome, but in not trying. It is liberating.

I'd had an early stint in acting school, and there was something satisfying about becoming a character, about being inside another mind that you had to create out of yourself. As I moved toward a life in writing, I found many of the things I'd learned in acting school still applied.

The first thing I bought that was really stylish was in 1969 when I was eleven. I saved up for a black, grey and white tie-dye grandad vest. It was too big - they weren't catering for kids my age - and hung off me, but I loved it.

I've always believed that a lot of the trouble in the world would disappear if we were talking to each other instead of about each other.

In this beginner-friendly book, called 'Learn to Program with Minecraft,' you will learn how to do cool things in Minecraft using the Python programming language. No prior programming experience is needed.

Babyface is definitely a big inspiration.

I'm not a sponge exactly, but I find that something I look at is a great opportunity for ideas.

Great music seems to come from a lot of angst, and that angst is from great musicians getting together with intense chemistry. When that chemistry isn't there, people tend not to write great music.

Now I'm writing about contemporary Los Angeles from memory. My process was to hang out, observe, research what I was writing about, and almost immediately go back to my office and write those sections. So it was a very close transfer between observation and writing.

Without a doubt, I wholeheartedly support programs at Microsoft and in the industry that bring more women into technology and close the pay gap.

I'm still really interested in acting, I love film so much. It's definitely something I'm going to explore as well.

What seems like the right thing to do could also be the hardest thing you have ever done in your life.

Social advance depends quite as much upon an increase in moral sensibility as it does upon a sense of duty.

Black people have always been Americas wilderness in search of a promised land.