there is only one w o r t h y goal for scientific exploration: piercing the tissue that separates l i f e fr o m d e a t h. everything else from the deep bottom of the sea, to the top of the highest mountain, on the farthest planet, is i n s i g n i f i c a n t. life and death, sir malcolm. the flicker that separates one from the other. fast as a bat’s wing. more beautiful than any sonnet - that is my river. that is my mountain.