While scientists rank near the top of the professions that Americans admire the most, a large fraction of the public chooses to ignore what scientists have to say on evolution and human-caused climate change, according to a study released last month. The US public also holds highly favorable views of science itself, with 84% of those surveyed believing that its benefits to society are mostly positive and only 6% thinking the opposite. But the study by the nonprofit Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found that a surprisingly low 17% of nonscientist participants regard their country’s scientific achievements as the best in the world, and it gauged the public support for increased federal funding for science to be lukewarm.
Perhaps most strikingly, only 32% of those surveyed agree that humans and other living things have evolved over time through evolution by natural selection, compared with 87% of...
