
What Americans know and don't know about science - protomyth
http://www.pewinternet.org/2015/09/10/what-the-public-knows-and-does-not-know-about-science/
======
ggchappell
This is interesting and worthwhile, but I do wonder about some of the
questions.

For example, the core-mantle-crust structure of the Earth is fundamental.
Everyone ought to know about that. But whether the core is the hottest part?
This strikes me as highly non-obvious, even to a relatively knowledgeable
person. The article says people were shown a labeled picture; I bet most
people just guessed, based on the colors used for the various regions.

And then there is the question about uranium & nuclear energy/weapons. What
about plutonium? Sure we can make plutonium from uranium, but then we're
getting into subtleties of what "needed" means.

Lastly, it is nice to know the role of Jonas Salk in the development of polio
vaccines. But that is more history than science (and a lot of people receive
the Sabin vaccine ...). Better questions might address what a vaccine is made
from, or roughly how it works.

