The
statistics for adults who are scientifically illiterate haven't changed much
since I commented on them in 2007:
* Only 53% of adults know how long it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun.
* Only 59% of adults know that the earliest humans and dinosaurs did not live at the same time.
* Only 47% of adults can roughly approximate the percent of the Earth's surface that is covered with water.*
* Only 21% of adults answered all three questions correctly.
Compare that to the numbers from 2006, reported as the % answered correctly (
2006 SE, Table 7-10):
- The center of the Earth is very hot. (True) 78
- All radioactivity is man-made. (False) 73
- It is the father’s gene that decides whether the baby is a boy or a girl. (True) 62
- Lasers work by focusing sound waves. (False) 42
- Electrons are smaller than atoms. (True) 45
- Antibiotics kill viruses as well as bacteria. (False) 54
- The universe began with a huge explosion. (True) 35
- The continents have been moving their location for millions of years and will continue to move. (True) 77
- Human beings are developed from earlier species of animals. (True) 44
- Does the Earth go around the Sun, or does the Sun go around the Earth? (Earth around the Sun) 71
This isn't high-minded snobbery. This is basic shit about the world around you. This is also why the US is beginning to suffer greatly as the scientific prowess of foreign nations increases and our native scientists, though superior at what they do, dwindle in number with each passing year.
