The Problem of Scientific Literacy

In 1905, at a gathering of the world’s greatest minds in the physical sciences, Henri Poincare´ reflected on the rapid progress of scientific inquiry and the means through which the scientific community at the turn of the twentieth century and beyond would refine our understanding of the world. In his historical address, Poincare´ warned against the seduction of reducing science to a domain of seeming facts, stating, "Science is built up of facts, as a house is built of stones; but an acc...

 European Union Citizens are More Scientifically-Ignorant

To begin with, citizens of other nations don't fare much better on scientific literacy surveys, and in many cases fan worse. Residents of the European Union, for instance, are less scientifically literate overall than Americans, at least according to one metric for measuring "civic science literacy" across countries.