Ordinary Tomatoes Do Not Contain Genes, While Genetically Modified Tomatoes Do
• Miracle Cures, Health Quackery
Encouragingly:
For the first time, a majority (53 percent) of NSF survey respondents answered "true" to the statement "human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals," bringing the United States more in line with other industrialized countries in response to this question.
Unsurprisingly:
Alternative medicine, defined here as any treatment that has not been proven effective using scientific methods, has been gaining in popularity. One study documented a 50 percent increase in expenditures for alternative therapies and a 25 percent increase in the use of alternative therapies between 1990 and 1997. Also, more than two thirds of those responding to the NSF survey said that magnetic therapy was at least somewhat scientific, although no scientific evidence exists to support claims about its effectiveness in treating pain or any other ailment.
Damningly
Belief in pseudoscience, including astrology, extrasensory perception (ESP), and alien abductions, is relatively widespread and growing. For example, in response to the 2001 NSF survey, a sizable minority (41 percent) of the public said that astrology was at least somewhat scientific, and a solid majority (60 percent) agreed with the statement "some people possess psychic powers or ESP." Gallup polls show substantial gains in almost every category of pseudoscience during the past decade.
Extracted from Science and Technology: Public Attitudes and Public Understanding.
Comments
Posted by: nivedita | April 17, 2004 8:22 AM
Posted by: bella | May 26, 2004 11:45 PM