Science operates in the quantifiable and the physical.

If a non-physical, non-quantifiable phenomenon can be shown to have any effect on existence, then we should by all means go after it with a magnifying glass and lab coats.

However, this quote seems to indicate that there are non-materialist arguments to be made in the realm of science. It also seems to imply

• science hasn't improved our quality of life (two words: Norman Borlaug).
• science accepts unsubstantiated stories (members of the science community love proving their colleagues wrong, and they do it often.)

Never mind the bit where the speaker claims that it's important to accept that some things go "against common sense", then damns science for the "patent absurdity of some of its constructs."

Harvard or not, this gentleman is either misquoted or misinformed.