M any bright UNC students have a fear of science that stems from horror stories about its introductory courses. More than a few are relieved they will never have to take another science course again.
Despite this aversion, a scientifically-informed public is critical to the continued support of fundamental research and its resulting benefits.
But the current state of scientific literacy in the United States is discouraging, with consequences ranging from comical to potentially dangerous. According to a 2014 National Science Foundation report, only three out of four Americans believe the earth revolves around the sun. (It does.) Apart from causing Copernicus to spin in his grave like a neutron star, the consequences of this ignorance are likely mild and limited to social embarrassment.
More ominously, the same report also found that half of all Americans believe that humans did not develop from earlier species of animals. (We did).
This is a problem with real consequences. For example, failure to grasp the biological fact of evolution contributes to the misuse of antibiotics. Such misinformation encourages the development of antibiotic-resistant bacterial strains that could plunge humanity back into an era when the smallest infection could spell a death sentence.
Aside from representing a threat to public health, a scientifically-misinformed public threatens the progress of scientific research by electing similarly misinformed legislators who go on to control federal research funding.
In the 112th Congress, the House Science, Space and Technology Committee counted among its ranks former Rep. Todd Akin, R-MO, who demonstrated his profound ignorance of human physiology with his assertion that in cases of “legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole [pregnancy] down.”
Another enlightened member of this committee is Rep. Paul Broun, R-GA, who has asserted that evolution, embryology and the Big Bang Theory are “lies straight from the pit of hell.”
These representatives hold the purse strings of the NSF — which provides 24 percent of federal support for all basic research to the tune of more than $7 billion per year — as well as NASA, the U.S. Geological Survey and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
