How Scientific Illiteracy Threatens Our Future

The vast majority of Americans do not see the ways in which science holds relevance in their lives, and too many scientists are unable to explain why our work matters. Meanwhile, partisan politics, a new media environment, and religious ideologies have magnified the growing rift between science and mainstream American culture. Science should be a value shared by all, but it will take far more than political will to bridge what C.P. Snow once described as a ``vast gulf of mutual incomprehension'' between scientists and everyone else. The scientific community must find new ways of reaching out or we will fail to influence the public, inform the decision-making process, and rise to meet the greatest challenges of the 21st century.