Scientific literacy lacking

Writer Michael Crichton died last week of cancer (type undisclosed). He was best known (well, by me) for creating "Jurassic Park" and "ER," but he wrote many more novels. At least from my perspective as a casual fan, I think those two things actually did nice things for science and medicine. But apparently there was controversy behind all of this work for as his wife says, he "challenged our preconceived notions about the world around us." Well, that's putting it mildly, since he was a big believer in UFOs, and expressed his doubts about the real effects of second-hand smoke, global warming and DDT.

This somewhat falls under the heading of "scientific illiteracy." To be scientific literate means that one has a working knowledge of the scientific methods, the natural world and understands basic discussions surrounding scientific issues. And very few Americans are scientifically literate, especially girls. This point was driven home for me this past weekend when I took my daughter to a show called "Science Is Fun," put on by the university chemistry department. As I looked around the room I realized that for every little girl, there were nine boys. And I spoke recently with a patient who is a science teacher, and he bemoaned the fact that, although he would like to get some girls into science, there are almost no girls in his classes. Now, I don't really view myself as a scientist, but I have a deep love for science, and this whole situation makes me sad, so very sad.