Has the US lost faith in science?

Those of us of an older generation have always looked at the USA when wanting to see how slavish acceptance of science and everything that it delivers plays out. Now, it seems, those days may be over.

Rick Borchelt director of communications at the Genetics and Public Policy Center at Johns Hopkins University, and an old lag in the science communications caper, has, along with Kathy Hudson director of the place, come up with Engaging the Scientific Community With the Public. To pluck one paragraph out of their story:

In a nutshell, an erosion of public trust that began as a trickle of doubt about radiation safety and pesticides has grown to program-threatening uprisings against emerging new technologies, from genetically altered “Frankenfoods” to concern over “grey goo” in nanotechnology.

Apart from that, nothing new here really. But that may not be surprising, given that the UK first put the wheels on the bandwagon that has become the Public Understanding of Science (PUS) (now Public Engagement in Science and Technology).

Science in the media goes up the poll

"Television was the most popular (61%) and most trusted (47%) medium for information about science, though there was a preference for traditional (47%), rather than thematic (27%) TV channels." That is how the EU sums up the findings of the latest survey of "attitudes to science in the media".

Check out the Press Releases on Europa. The headline sums it up: "Big differences still exist between Member States in attitudes to science in the media".

The press release marks the European Forum on Science Journalism in Barcelona on 3-4 December. The page also has links to the full survey, along with "Two special surveys of European scientists and media professionals" which are supposed to "identify key issues impacting the coverage of scientific information, and the professional challenges of science journalism across Europe".

Check out the "survey of European media professionals on how European research is presented and covered in and by the media". There is also the European Guide to Science Journalism Training "giving, for the first time, a full picture of training opportunities for science journalists across Europe".