The Public is Too Stupid to Understand this Article

“There’s nothing more important than knowing how an atom bomb works,” said Dan Vergano, “Yet 95% of people don’t understand it.”

“They don’t know the difference between an atom and a molecule!” interjected Elizabeth Weise.

“They don’t know where milk comes from,” called a voice from the other side of the room.

Adam Frank mentioned that one of the problems with scientists sharing their science is that they are too snotty. They think, “Ahh, you don’t understand it,” and they refuse to explain it in plain English. 

Are the readers really that stupid?  Maybe, some of them.  But if they’re reading, then at least they can read. And if they can read, they can probably think.  And if they read something interesting, and they think about it, they might just decide to find out more.  If science writers write interesting, well-researched stories, people will learn from them.  They might remember a bit of it the next time they pick up a paper and see another story on the same topic. 

When I meet people for the first time, they are often a bit intimidated when I tell them that I’m getting my PhD in Neuroscience.  But when I tell them about what I study- neurotransmitter transporters that drugs like antidepressants (and cocaine) bind to- they usually have at least a vague idea of what I am talking about, and they are usually very interested. There’s no way that these people learned about neurotransmitters in high school. They learned, what they know of these topics, from science journalists such as the ones sitting in this room.