Early in July 2009, the Pew Research Center and the American Association for the Advancement of Science released its report on the state of science literacy in the US. Of the survey respondents, only 49% think humans are driving climate change with emissions. Just 52% of them can differentiate between ordinary cells and stem cells. In fact, only 46% can say that an atom is bigger than an electron. Their report is a compelling eye-opener to the mindset of the average American.

Ordinary Americans stand to benefit from being more scientifically informed than they are now. Short of becoming scientists themselves, they would be able to pay rapt attention to scientific articles and follow debates more closely. Indeed, scientifically literate people have more say on the government, given how science influences policymaking, from the White House down to county level.

Nowadays, it is not enough to know the names of the eight planets. People need to reckon with scientists more, know their names more than they do the names of celebrities, and become familiar with the country’s scientific organizations.

In an effort to steer more Americans to scientific literacy, the National Science Foundation has been running the Integrative Graduate Education and Research Traineeship (IGERT) for years now; this program aims to train young scientists. Towards that end, IGERT backs many science courses across the US and endows nearly 20 schools annually.

In the same way the general public must pro-actively study science, scientists should do well to draw closer to them. Then again, not too many scientists are keen on putting high-paying academic careers on the line just to condescend to the public.

Greater outreach on the part of scientists to the public could be difficult, but not impossible. Ideally, scientists who have not consigned themselves to a life in academia should serve as channels between the people and science. To do so, they must willingly surmount sparse careers and few incentives in such endeavor. The American government, philanthropists, universities, and scientific nonprofits all have a role to play in this regard.