Science illiteracy
More dismal news:
Despite its importance to economic growth, environmental protection, and global health and energy issues, scientific literacy is currently low among American adults. According to the national survey commissioned by the California Academy of Sciences:
- Only 53% of adults know how long it takes for the Earth to revolve around the Sun.
- Only 59% of adults know that the earliest humans and dinosaurs did not live at the same time.
- Only 47% of adults can roughly approximate the percent of the Earth’s surface that is covered with water.
- Only 21% of adults answered all three questions correctly.
Years ago, back in the days when I served as an American Society of Civil Engineers-appointed Visitor to the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology — I was one of those clipboard-toting nerds that terrified engineering schools during accreditation visits — you couldn’t have convinced me that these things were true.
But now that I’ve lived in North Carolina for more than a decade … oh, yeah, I know it’s true.
Meantime, in Rusk County, Texas, a young couple has been indicted for murder in connection with the failed exorcism of their 13-month old.
Couple accused of killing child while performing exorcism
A Rusk County grand jury handed up the capital murder indictments against Blaine Keith Milam, 19 and Jessica Bain Carson, 18.
The couple is accused of trying to rid 13-month-old Amora Carson of demonic possession by beating her to death with a hammer.
