According to the Science Media Center in the UK, James Watson has cancelled all his remaining speaking engagements in the UK and will be returning to the US, in the aftermath of the uproar created by his comments on race and intelligence.

In today's news reports, Watson appears almost befuddled by the words that came out of his mouth. "I am mortified about what has happened," Watson said in a statement to the AP. "More importantly, I cannot understand how I could have said what I am quoted as having said. I can certainly understand why people, reading those words, have reacted in the ways they have. To all those who have drawn the inference from my words that Africa, as a continent, is somehow genetically inferior, I can only apologize unreservedly. That is not what I meant. More importantly from my point of view, there is no scientific basis for such a belief."