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

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

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.

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.

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

Most workouts are way too aggressive. Thousands of lunges wear out the body.

I try and take the commonplace - and some of it is writ large, like death - take the commonplace and make it universally resonant, revelatory, and beautiful at the same time.

If you can't take a punch, you should play table tennis.

I always tell my students to complicate your characters: never make it easy for the reader. Nobody is ever one thing. That's what makes characters compelling.

I'd been told I was going to be the next big thing. But in actual fact, the complete opposite happened.

I like situations that push a character to the edge.

When people come up to me and say, 'I read your book,' I'm thinking, 'How dare you! Who gave you a copy?'

Life's tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.

I've dedicated more than 15 years to this theater and television thing; I want to spend the next 10, 15 years or so devoted to music.

I'm not going to suggest to a delegate at what they ought to do.

It's in God's hands.

A lot of the struggle I had with movies is I really loved moments and tones and feelings in a scene, and I loved creating those, but I never really had great stories to string them together.

I have accumulated so many experiences, so much, that I want to be able to realize so many things. This is why I have basically given up most of my positions.

I do not support a single-payer system; I do support having something there, whether it's an option or not. And we can work with that, but we have to have something to leverage so we can get the insurance company to bring down their prices, and the only way to do that is to have an alternative there.

How little the public realizes what a girl must go through before she finally appears before the spotlight that is thrown upon the stage.

I'm always going to be just me.

I was made fun of in the Midwest - I was the only Asian in my graduating class of 200. Fortunately, I found my niche, and it was fine. But I wanted to be so white, you wouldn't believe it. I was like, 'I want to be white; I don't want to be this anymore.' But now I embrace it.

Indifference is the sign of sickness, a sickness of the soul more contagious than any other.

Perhaps a sense of possessing needs to come to come before a sense of genuine sharing.

The best way to appreciate your job is to imagine yourself without one.

I grew up in a very small, close-knit, Southern Baptist family, where everything was off-limits. So I couldn't wait to get to college and have some fun. And I did for the first two years. And I regret a lot of it, because my grades were in terrible shape. I never got in serious trouble, except for my grades.

I cannot live with someone who can't live without me.

We will always tend to fulfill our own expectation of ourselves.

I don't make people bend over backwards, and I don't like that in people. I am definitely no diva.