PHILIP BALL | Someone quipped that if the ferry from Hamburg had sunk, so would have quantum physics for a generation...

ELIJAH PERSEUS BLUMOV | English is like a cavern filled with a dragon’s hoard of words from different places and times, and our writing thrives on the unparalleled richness of our diction, French is like a jewel box containing only a modest selection of precious stones...

If we're going to reject these phenomena, then we need to do it on the grounds of having seriously considered and weighed the evidence. We can't just dismiss them because they don't fit our worldview...