What Americans Don't Know About Science - Eleanor Barkhorn - The Atlantic - 0 views
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he report shows us that for at least some of the questions, Americans may be answering not based on knowledge, but on belief.
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only 48 percent of Americans responded "true" to the statement "Human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals." But if the question was reframed slightly, far more people responded with "true." Given the statement "according to the theory of evolution, human beings, as we know them today, developed from earlier species of animals," 72 percent answered "true."
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A similar pattern happens with the Big Bang question. When the statement is simply "The universe began with a huge explosion," 39 percent responded "true." When it is "according to astronomers, the universe began with a huge explosion," 60 percent said "true.
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