What’s stopping scientists from being heard?

Ever wondered why scientific advice doesn’t seem to get the traction it deserves? Ever wondered why public acceptance of the scientific consensus on many issues is lagging?

From the evolution of species and specific characteristics, to the atmospheric physics and biological evidence of climate change, to the astrophysics involved in study of the universe: there seems some resistance to scientific ideas and the recommendations that come from scientists.

In celebration of the International Year of Astronomy 2009, NASA’s Great Observatories — the Hubble Space Telescope, the Spitzer Space Telescope, and the Chandra X-ray Observatory — have produced a matched trio of images of the central region of our Milky Way galaxy. Author: NASA/JPL-Caltech/ESA/CXC/STScI

These two items might give you some idea why this is so. One is an article posted recently on Alternet (which has the added bonus of mentioning possibly the only person on the planet who doesn’t realise that islands don’t float – see at about 1m 20 sec. into the video on the second page), while the other is a short video posted on YouTube by Right Wing Watch.

[Featured image: Red milk snake – an example of protective colouration. Photo by Mike Pingleton, licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License, Version 1.2 or any later version published by the Free Software Foundation]