Some interesting websites on Science and Society

Report from the House of Lords Committee on Science and Technology is an excellent assessment of the situation, analysis of root causes and recommendations for the future.  Published in 2000.

Strategies for Survival is aninteresting site by Bonnie Bucqueroux, who blogs about current threats and how we can respond at the personal and policy levels.  Great use of video and YouTube.There are dozens of Yahoo! Groups organized around energy issues.

Is it better to start a new group or join some other ones?  Or perhaps both?

Interface between (or Intersection of) Science and Society

Here is a short list of the problems we encounter at the interface between science and society.

• Public distrust of science and technology:  is it really good for us?
• Scientific community isolated, marginalized, elite
• Reductionist science, specialization makes it difficult to understand
• Difficult to communicate uncertainty and risk
• Volume of information, pace of discovery, rate of change overwhelming
• As relative understanding and trust decline, public reliance on science and technology deepens.
• Decline in public funding of research matched by increased private, commercial funding compromises independence of science.

Evidence of Poor Public Understanding of Science

From ABC News site:  http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory?id=2530079

Science advocates said the American public shows a poor grasp of science when they engage important issues like stem cell funding or global warming. They said there aren't enough qualified American technicians to help turn basic science into marketable products.

A 2002 survey by the National Science Foundation found that half the public didn't know that electrons are smaller than atoms or that dinosaurs and humans never walked the earth together.

That's because science education for most children is second-rate, especially between kindergarten and 12th grade, said science advocates. Below-average students study "pond biology and old science," Miller said.

"We see a lot of kids dropping out of science and not studying it," said education professor Richard Duschl, of Rutgers, who used to teach high school.

Some research has indicated that American science students rank worse than students in many other countries. Foreign universities in Europe and elsewhere are already challenging this country in attracting some of the world's best scientists.

About This Site

This website is an experiment, a work in progress.

In some posts, I would like to document my experience engaging scientists and non-scientists alike in my exploration of Science and Society.  I intend to write very personal and anecdotal stories of the people I meet and my thinking as it evolves in my blog.

But I will also write more edited “stories” and post some “reference” pages reflecting my current thinking as patterns emerge and it becomes clear how I will focus in the next few months.

I have no idea where this website will wind up:  it probably depends a lot on which direction my research takes me.  For the time being I can say with some certainty that the number of visitors to my site are very, very low.   However, in the coming months I would like it to become a place where the people I meet — scientists and non-scientists alike — can follow these discussions: how we know what we know; how that insight might be useful to improve communication between scientists and the lay public; and finally, how such a public conversation might improve the standing of scientists, scientific evidence and scientific methods in our society.