Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Science
Posted on March 20, 2011 Comments (4)
As the writer of this blog (which is located at engineering.curiouscatblog.net) I am a strong believer in the importance of scientific literacy. Neil Degrasse Tyson stated the importance very well, as I mentioned in a previous post, the scientifically literate see a different world
The Financial Times has complied a list of the 10 things everyone should know about science
- Evolution – previous posts: Evolution is Fundamental to Science – posts tagged: evolution
- Genes and DNA – tags: genes – genetics – DNA – RNA
- Big bang – tags: physics, posts mentioning big bang
- Relativity – General Relativity Einstein/Essen Anniversary Test – posts mentioning relativity
- Quantum mechanics – Quantum Mechanics Made Relatively Simple Podcasts, Quantum mechanics
- Radiation
- Atoms and nuclear reactions
- Molecules and chemical reactions – posts on chemistry
- Digital data – I must admit, even reading their comments, I don’t understand what they are thinking here. There certainly is a great deal of digital data and the future certainly going to involve a great deal more, but this just doesn’t fit, in my opinion.
- Statistical significance – Seeing Patterns Where None Exists, Statistics Insights for Scientists and Engineers, Correlation is Not Causation post on statistics – experimentation
It is a challenge to create such a list. I agree with most of what they have. I would like to look at changing the last 2 and radiation, though. I would probably include something about the scientific method rather than statistical significance. Another area I would consider is something about bacteria and/or viruses. You can maybe include them under genes, but viruses and bacteria are amazing in the very strange things they do with genes and I think that is worthy of its own item. Another possibility is thinking of separating out a second spot for things related to the scientific method – causation, randomized testing, multivariate experiments… I would also consider one, or more of the following or something related to them biology – chlorophyll, the the life of bacteria in our bodies, something related to human health (how drugs work, medical studies…), etc..
The Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Science
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An important feature of Darwinian evolution is that it operates at the level of the individual. There is no mechanism for natural selection to change the species as a whole, other than through the accumulation of changes that lead to the survival of the fittest individuals.
The rate of evolution varies enormously between different types of organism and different environmental circumstances. It can proceed very quickly when the pressure is great, as, for example, with bacteria exposed to antibiotics, when drug-resistant mutations may arise and spread through the bacterial population within months.
Why does it matter? Evolution is coming under renewed assault, particularly in the US, from fundamentalist Christians who want creationism to be taught in schools. Although evolution has had virtually unanimous support from professional scientists for at least a century, polls show that American public opinion still favours creationism.
Related: Poor Results on Evolution and Big Bang Questions Omitted From NSF Report – Nearly Half of Adults in the USA Don’t Know How Long it Takes the Earth to Circle the Sun – Science Knowledge Quiz
Categories: Science, Students
Tags: commentary, curiouscat, Education, evolution, learning, quote, Science, science explained, science facts, scientific literacy, Students
4 Responses to “Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Science”
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March 24th, 2011 @ 9:35 am
If only we all knew those things! Personally I know a lot about evolution having studied it at college but not so much on the physics side, it’s a shame 🙁
March 27th, 2011 @ 12:16 pm
Wow, its very nice to find a blog that caters to science.and Yes,americans still view creationism as the fundamentals of life.Much has been said on points where a living thing can exist on such extreme pressures of environment. Great Job on this site Jon and a very interesting and informative article indeed.
December 21st, 2011 @ 7:22 pm
[…] Nearly Half of Adults in the USA Don’t Know How Long it Takes the Earth to Circle the Sun – Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Science – Understanding the Evolution of Human Beings by Country Posted by curiouscat […]
January 19th, 2020 @ 1:18 pm
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