“Scientific literacy is the artery through which the solutions of tomorrow’s problems flow.” – Neil deGrasse Tyson

America is the second-best country in the world in terms of science, as it produced over 600,000 scientific publications in 2020, closely behind China. However, that statistic does not seem to extend to the wider American public. The percentage of Americans who have little to no trust in science has increased from 13% in 2019 to 27% in 2023 (Kennedy). According to a 2019 survey, only 68% of people could identify oil, coal, and natural gases as fossil fuels, and only 52% could correctly identify a hypothesis. Though American scientists produce hundreds of thousands of scientific research papers every year, the public seems largely clueless. The natural question, then, becomes why. Why is scientific mistrust rising in America?

The advent of the Internet, for one, has been a defining factor in the rise of scientific mistrust. Although it serves as an incredibly powerful resource for information, it can become hard to verify the accuracy of claims. In addition, the Internet is excellent at creating echo chambers that spread misinformation. For example, if one person becomes interested in the idea of vaccines causing autism and consults the web for further research, that one person becomes surrounded by hundreds of sources that all believe the same. In other words, conspiracy theories are more likely to spread because of the confined bubbles that the Internet can paradoxically create. We saw this confirmation bias unfold amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Conspiracy theories over COVID ranging from its usage as a bioweapon to its spread over 5G networks were perpetuated by multiple politicians as well as civilians through networks like Twitter. Although neither of those conspiracies was true, both of them (and many more) spread like wildfire over the platforms. 

The politicization of science has also become a hurdle to widespread scientific literacy. Issues like climate change are now being framed in partisan views, leading to the public having to make choices on supporting science or denying it. The highly polarized American society that we live in has further expanded the gap between science supporters and deniers, leading to those who already didn’t trust science being less likely to believe in it.  

Science also has to battle human bias. Oftentimes, people will bend facts to their will to benefit themselves. Popular science YouTuber Veritasium recently verified a previous study in his video “On These Questions, Smarter People Do Worse” by presenting mathematically equivalent questions in political and non-political contexts. The result he found was that when in a political context, people would often bend the data given to them to match their previously existing beliefs, rather than accepting a deviation from their original belief. This highlights a flaw in human interpretation of data; we often try to keep the status quo. This can be observed even further in the case of fossil fuels. Human-caused climate change has been directly proven through countless studies observing glaciers, coral reefs, tree rings, etc. Nevertheless, businessmen yearn to retain the massive profits being generated from fossil fuels, leading them to push forward inaccurate claims that climate change is not human-caused or that fossil fuels are in fact “clean” energy. Fortunately, this bending of science is often the most recognizable. Most people can realize the underlying motives of those who make inaccurate claims and rule them out as such. What’s more hidden, though, is the unwillingness of people to accept change in science. Some feel scared to change and some feel attacked by new scientific advancements. Climate change research, for instance, forces people to accept that they are in part responsible for the degradation of the environment. This is a huge revelation to acknowledge and it’s completely understandable for members of the public to be hurt or feel attacked. However, channeling that anger into denying the truth does no good for society. 

Last of all, true scientific misunderstandings can spread. The fault for this lies in both the public but also in science communicators. There was much controversy over the term “global warming,” as it seemed to suggest that every part of the world was increasing in temperature. This led to outrage from many, like then-president Donald Trump, who used rising temperatures in Louisiana and Texas in July 2019 to claim that global warming was “an expensive hoax.” However, the term was incorrectly used and defined. The term climate change was adopted over global warming to highlight the fact that increased man-made greenhouse gases didn’t raise the temperature in every part of the world. Rather, the climate became more unpredictable, especially concerning natural disasters. In addition, a study was conducted about the strong links between the MMR vaccine and autism in 1998. The study was later found to be flawed for a variety of reasons, such as confusing the difference between causation and correlation between the vaccine and autism. Nonetheless, the paper took hold of society and many anti-vaxxers reference it to this day to back up their arguments.

The public has enormous power in the U.S. in directly influencing political decisions. I, like many, worry that a scientifically illiterate community will make misinformed or even uninformed decisions that detriment the nation as a whole. 

The main solution to scientific mistrust in America is the ability to have a wider consciousness. The Internet is now embedded in our society and there’s no way to escape that; instead, we must learn to be aware of closed bubbles and the potential inaccuracy of online research. Similarly, we must be aware of the political views and hidden biases to make sure that we can correctly evaluate statements by those in power. Having a broadened perspective would allow the public to see through potential misunderstandings and make informed statements. 

A commonality between a large number of conspiracy theorists and anti-science viewers is the idea of questioning authority. They refuse to let people tell them what to believe or how to believe it, leading them to conduct their own research. This attribute is, in fact, highly valuable in science! To be able to think for yourself and question others instead of blindly accepting facts is the basis of scientific thought. However, people must be able to accept evidence that does show up and understand when they are wrong. It’s entirely okay to not have all the answers. To let down your pride and ignorance in the face of evidence is a sign of maturity. To be accepting of change is yet another sign of maturity. Having a mature, scientifically literate society would make America a better place in terms of making educated decisions as opposed to brash, uninformed choices. Only then will America have a chance at becoming the most scientifically powerful country again.

In light of the recent election, the phrase “Make America Great Again” has risen in popularity. However, to do so, I believe we must first Make America Smart Again.