The 2014 survey looking at public attitudes to science (conducted on behalf of the UK government) has been released. What I find particularly interesting is that you can see the comparison to people’s attitudes 25 years ago, in 1988.
So what has changed? More people agree that it is important to know about science in their daily lives; the majority of people now think that the benefits of science outweigh any risks and the public are also more comfortable with the speed at which science can change our lives.
Above is a section of the survey’s infographic, click here to view the full picture.
It seems that science communication is now more effective and I hope it continues to get better and better. According to the survey the majority of young people (51%) feel well informed about science but that figure drops when looking at all people. That tells us that middle aged and elderly people are not being so well targeted with science communication, possibly because the majority of them will have left education.
So if you know someone that could benefit from getting more in touch with science send them my way – they may enjoy the snippets of science news in my Friday ‘Fast Access’ feature!