Science
Get a load of this one: when selected at random, most of us say we are interested in science and technology. Hmmm. That's not bad.
But then, when asked the simplest and most basic questions, the results are appalling. For instance:
We must know whether the Sun revolves around the Earth or whether the Earth revolves around the Sun. Right? Which is it? We've got to know this one! Science has known it for 500 years. But with all this time, almost half of us haven't figured that out. Come on!
The fact is that, when it comes to 3rd grade science, most adults can't answer the most basic science questions. This is a bigger problem than most of us believe.
Now I realize that most of the material in this website, or in my book, must be going over the heads of most people. How sad!
As for other basic science questions, when we get it right, it's because of some movie that we've seen. If the movie got it right, then most of us get it right.
Many of us know that electrons are smaller than atoms, but only a few understand the term "molecule."
Here's another one: the center of the Earth is very hot; true or false? Thankfully, most of us get that one right.
Lasers work by focusing sound waves; true or false? Most of us get it wrong. Lasers work by focusing light waves.
Cigarette smoking is a leading cause of lung cancer? Aha! Most of us get that one right.
The earliest humans lived at the same time as the dinosaurs; true or false. Half of us get that wrong. Shhhh; let's whisper. Humans missed the dinosaurs by a loooong time!
Uh oh! How long does it take the Earth to orbit the Sun: a day, a month, or a year? Not even half of us get that right! Which means that most of us believe that the Earth goes around the sun in a month or a day! Please. We know what a year is, and when our birthday is.
Okay. This one is tough; in our own words let's put it in plain words, what is a molecule? That's tricky-only a few of can do that. Correct answer: The smallest particle of a substance that retains the chemical properties of the substance. A molecule is composed of two or more atoms.
Now, let's bring this into perspective:
Many of us will drive to our local natural foods store to buy some organic produce, vitamin pills, or whatever. But, we do it without wearing a seat belt. And we have not checked our smoke detector at home in a long time! And to think that, each year, thousands of people die in home fires. In the same time, smoke detectors cut the risk of death by 60%! Of course, the most at risk are the very young, elderly, and intoxicated.
So please, wear a damn seat belt, check the %!@& smoke detectors, wash your hands, have only protected or monogamous sex, and so on. That reduces the risk far more than any all-natural product or service. And while we're at it, we might brush up on our 3rd grade science!
As far as a basic parenting quiz or knowledge of geography, I'll just shut up, as I'm probably in enough trouble already.
