July 15, 2009
Climate change, the energy crisis, global pandemics, nuclear proliferation-many of the most urgent problems of the twenty-first century require science-based solutions. Yet Americans are paying less and less attention to scientists. For every five hours of cable news, less than a minute is devoted to science; the number of newspapers with weekly science sections has shrunken by two-thirds over the past several decades. Just 18 percent of Americans personally know a scientist to begin with, and exceedingly few can name a living scientist role model.
This is excerpted from the new book UNSCIENTIFIC AMERICA, written by Chris Mooney and Sheril Kirshenbaum.
The disconnect between the scientific community and mainstream American culture grows wider every day.
We all need to think about our own attitudes toward science and what we’re teaching our children.
Posted by: Seymour Simon
