87% Go Online for Science News & Info; Top 6 Science Issues of Interest
Some
87% of online users in U.S. (128 million) have at one time used the
internet to carry out research on a scientific topic or concept, while 40
million Americans use the internet as their primary source of news and
information about science, according to Pew
Internet & American Life Project in collaboration with the Exploratorium.
For young adults with high-speed connections at home, the internet is the most popular source for science news and information by a 44% to 32% margin over television.
Most of those searches would begin with
search engines. Nearly three quarters (71%) of internet users say they
turn to the internet for science news and information because it is
convenient.
Two-thirds (65%) say they have encountered news and information about
science when they have gone online for a different reason in mind.
|
Science Issues of Interest to the Public in U.S. |
|||
|
|
Very interested |
Somewhat interested |
Not at all interested |
|
Changes in the Earth’s climate |
42% |
39% |
18% |
|
The human genome and DNA |
36 |
41 |
22 |
|
The origins of life on this planet |
35 |
40 |
24 |
|
Space and space exploration |
31 |
41 |
28 |
|
Stem cell research |
31 |
40 |
26 |
|
The origins of the universe |
29 |
37 |
33 |
|
Source:Pew Internet & American Life Project Survey, January 2006. N= 2,000 |
|||
Users of the internet for science information also report better attitudes about the role science plays in society and higher assessments of how well they understand science. Specifically:
- 78% of those who have gotten science
information online describe themselves as “very” or “somewhat”
informed about new scientific discoveries; 58% of remaining internet
users says this.
- 48% strongly agree that to be a strong
society, the United States needs to be competitive in science; 33% of
remaining online users strongly agree with this.
- 43% strongly agree that scientific research is essential to improving the quality of human lives; 27% of remaining online users say this.
The report also showed that many Americans visit science museums and websites whose main focus is on science. Three in five Americans (59%) have been to some sort of science museum in the past year, such as a zoo or aquarium, natural history museum, science or technology museum, or planetarium.
Half (49%) of internet users have gone to a website whose content is devoted to science, such as the Smithsonian’s website or NationalGeographic.com.
