A recent study shows that twenty percent fewer Americans think science is our nation’s greatest achievement (47 percent in 1999, 27 percent in 2009). For 2009, Civil Rights/Equal Rights tied with Other with 17 percent. War and Peace clocked in at 7 percent, and Economy brought up the rear with 3 percent–no real surprise there (except that anyone at all gave it a thumbs up lately). Perhaps the most telling part of the survey, though, was that 33 percent cast a vote for Nothing/Don’t Know.

Viva la Scientific Revolution!
The previous administration had quite a reputation, science-wise. I believe many referred to the relationship as a  full-blown knock-down, drag-out war. Enter the new administration, declaring war on the war on science–making peace is just so anticlimactic. As evinced by statements like, “the days of science taking a back seat to ideology are over,” Obama has been keeping his promise to promote scientific integrity in policy making, which is great. He’s also been pushing to improve science education, which is better.

So, Science, What Have You Done for Me Lately?
What blows me away about these statistics about America’s feeling regarding science can be summed up with a single piece of technology that has grown immensely in popularity–not to mention gotten ridiculously more complex–from 1999 to 2009: the cellular phone. In 1999, when science was in better standing with the public, my cell phone could do two things: make phone calls and send text messages (at least I seem to remember that being an option, I can’t say I tried to use that feature much at that point). Now you can get anGPS-enabled iPhone that connects to a nationwide 3G network to stream videos at speeds that would have made a 1999er’s head spin. It has a touch screen. It has a digitial compass and voice recognition software–that actually works. It knows which way up and rotates its display accordingly. For Pete’s sake, it has accelerometers and a built-in camera. It’s the most advanced piece of technology ever to be so widely desired–not to mention possessed.

So, to those of you who took this survey and decided that we aren’t doin’ so hot on the science front: if you’re reading this, you’re on the Internet and chances are pretty high you didn’t have to listen the screech of a 14.4 dial-up modem to get here. Take a moment and look around you. If you aren’t impressed by the technological innovations of the last decade, you’re either blind or a ludite.