You know something’s wrong with science education when 30 out of 32 Harvard graduates cannot explain why the Northern Hemisphere is warmer in the summer and colder in winter.
A telling snippet of video, showing educated graduates explaining incorrectly that the seasons are caused by Earth’s apogee and perigee, is one of Ira Flatow’s prime pieces of evidence that the U.S. is part of a “science challenged” world.
Flatow presented “Talking Science In A Science-Challenged World” at Becton Center Tuesday. The event was sponsored by the Poynter Fellowship in Journalism at Yale.
Flatow (rhymes with Plato), a science journalist and 35-year veteran of public radio and television, told an audience of Yale faculty and students that they better become adept at providing snappy television spots explaining their research.
Newspapers and television have become vacuous purveyors of mindless entertainment, giving scant coverage to issues such as global climate change, stem cell research, and alternative energy, he said.
“The public loves science,” Flatow said. Networks and newspapers do not, he said.
Thus, Flatow perfected ways to impart scientific nuggets in quick demonstrations during stints at “CBS This Morning,” public television, and more recently promoting his latest book, “Present at the Future.”
“With TV shows you can convey one small idea,” he said.
How?
Flatow demonstrated a liquid shedding shirt covered with nano particles, by sipping a soft drink from the shirt pocket.
At the very least, the spot introduced viewers to “nano particles,” which is more than they’re apt to find anywhere else on television, he said.
“National television is not interested in any science news, which is a subclass of regular news. Newscasters don’t care very much about the scientific value of he news,” Flatow said.
As evidence, Flatow showed NBC anchor Brian Williams introducing a story about the 300 millionth American and shrugging and saying, “I don’t know how they figure these things out.”
A minor amount of digging would have revealed that population growth is a function of births, immigration, and illegal immigration, another network explained. Ultimately, there was no literal single 300 millionth baby, although a New York station named one born in a Manhattan hospital.
Meanwhile, CNN eliminated its science staff, along with networks and newspapers across the country.
“They don’t want you to know. They’re dumbing down the news. Now they compete to be the dumbest news,” Flatow said.
The solution is for scientists to become adept at explaining what they do on television, he said. Circumvent the gate-keepers.
“Engineers and scientists should have to sit in front of a camera and explain what they do before they can graduate,” he said. That’s essential both for television, and Web casts.
Some science slips through on cable channels like the Discovery Channel, “when it takes a break from sharks and dinosaurs,” he said. The CBS crime show, “Numb3rs” also manages to slip in some real math, Flatow said, such as explaining the connection between the heads of flowers and the Fibonacci numbers.
Flatow was the host of the Emmy award-winning Newton’s Apple on the Public Broadcasting System, and is now engaged in several educational Internet projects, including blogs, podcasts. He’s president of NPR’s ScienceFriday Inc., which is now also a Web site, and founder of Talking Science, a non-profit company devoted to creating audio, video and Internet projects that make science “user friendly.”
By the way, seasons are created by Earth’s 23.5 degree tilt. When we tilt toward the sun, the concentrated solar radiation creates summer (for us). When Earth is tilted away from the sun, sunlight is spread over a larger area and the weather cools.
Coincidentally, summer now happens when Earth is farthest from the sun, and winter, when the sun is closest.