The National Science Foundation (NSF) reported that 1 in 4 Americans do not know the answer to one of the basic questions in science – does the earth revolve around the sun.
The NSP poll is used every year to measure the knowledge of the United States, according to Discovery News. This year 2,200 people were surveyed about the physical and biological sciences in the form of 10 questions. The average score? A 6.5 out of 10.
Along with 25 percent of Americans not knowing the earth revolved around the sun, only 39 percent answered correctly that “the universe began with a huge explosion” and 51 percent knew that antibiotics do not kill viruses, according to USA Today.
However, 90 percent of the U.S. population that was surveyed said they loved science and 1 in 3 people believed science should get more funding from the government.
In a survey done by the National Opinion Research Center, according to NPR, Americans said they had greater interest in new medical discoveries and local school issues related to science. They were the least interested in space exploration, agricultural developments and science related international and foreign policies.