Everything GMO will kill you, climate change never happens, vaccines cause autism, and anyone who accepts evolution is the anti-christ. Stop me if you have herd these before or better yet, have reiterated them yourself. All of these seem a bit strange do they not? Statements such as these are not to uncommon in today’s society, and unfortunately more than a fair share of people believe them. Why would anyone believe such gibberish? Simple. America’s scientific literacy is dwindling into non-existence and it has hurt us all economically, politically, and socially.  Before delving into greater detail a few definitions are in order. First is Literacy which we all should know is the ability to read, write, and comprehend what has been read and what has been written. Second, Scientific literacy is the knowledge and understanding of scientific concepts, and processes required for personal decision making, civil and cultural affairs, and economic productivity (Oxford English Dictionary). 

    Our economy is no doubt the best in the world. Even during the recession, our economy out-performed a vast majority of the world, but how is our economy this successful? Science is the answer, dear readers. Science is innovation. It creates new technologies (cell phones, computers, cars, everything), new jobs, especially ones that do not yet exist, and better medical care. I bet my bottom dollar that there is someone reading this with a cell phone on hand or a computer, but how? Again, science (are you seeing the pattern yet). Just imagine what society would be like without all these wonderful tech toys, did someone say Middle Ages? With these new tech toys, someone is needed to produce them, fix them when you drop them in the toilet, and update them. This is how jobs are created by science. The average growth rate over the past few years in the science and tech industries has been around 8% that may seem low but the average for the US is around 4-5% annually. (BLS)

     Unfortunately for us in science, our research has become a battleground for politics. Everything from stem cells to climate change can influence who gets elected and who gets ousted. The saddest fact of all is our research is completely controlled by the government through funding. One trend I have noticed has been that most studies are either taken out of context in order to show a certain point of view, or if the study shows results that disagree with a certain point of view, the results are either ignored or stated as doctored up or false by those in politics. The best thing you can do as a voter in this instance is to look up the study yourself and read it. Even if it disagrees with your view point, keep in mind scientists are not trying to prove or disprove anything, they are just trying to figure things out. That is how science works! They have no political agenda nor do they take sides.  

    The biggest impact that scientific illiteracy has on our country is within the social realm. There is a lot of misprints, misrepresentation, and misconceptions about science within our communities that tend to spread like wild fire especially when backed by a celebrity.  A few that come to mind are vaccines cause autism (hundreds of studies prove they do not), Dr. Oz frauds, and the overall functioning of science. I will be talking about the vaccines in a later article so I will jump to Oz. Dr. Oz got caught by congress for pushing certain products that promoted weight loss without any scientific backing to prove that it worked. The biggest issue that arises is how little people know about how science works. Some might think that our sole goal is to prove or disprove everything right or wrong. However, this is not the case. Our goal in science is simple. We observe a phenomenon, we make a hypothesis about what is occurring, we test said hypothesis, if the hypothesis is correct we record our observations and continue testing new ways to confirm the hypothesis, if the original test does not confirm the hypothesis we change our hypothesis to fit the new data we collected and try again. That last sentence is where I witness people getting into trouble. When we hit a result that disproves our beliefs or thoughts on the event observed, we tend to alter the data to fit our view point. This is a problem we all must avoid for it is the leading cause of scientific illiteracy in the country. 

    The final thought I would like to leave with you is this. You do not need to be a scientist to be scientifically literate. Being scientifically literate allows you to be more skeptical of the world around you, and not believing everything you are told. However, it does not mean everyone is wrong either. Have a thirst for knowledge and a vicious hunger for facts.