The collective ignorance of basic principles of science is, at times, astounding to me. Things that we all learned at some point during grade school and middle school and high school, over and over again, somehow still escape some of us. Perhaps the best example in recent news is the categorical dismissal of evolution by three Republican presidential future also-rans candidates. Each of these men, of course, are somehow alarmingly eligible to become arguably the most powerful person in the world. James Holsinger, the man President Bush (who himself only recently accepted global warming as an actual, scientifically-founded phenomenon) recently selected to become the next Surgeon General of the United States, truly believes in his heart of hearts that homosexuality is a curable disease. Oh yes, lest I forget, he is also a doctor, a convenient ancillary credential for one to have when being appointed Surgeon General, in addition to one’s theological credentials and beliefs.

A survey conducted recently found that over a quarter of us aren’t aware that the Earth in fact revolves around the sun; of the nearly 75% who actually learned something in grade school on that topic, only about 7 in 10 believe that the Earth takes one year to accomplish this, with “one day” and “don’t know” being the next most popular answers in that order. (Excellent commentary can be found here, as well as accompanying disbelief.)

It goes on. 48% of Americans aren’t aware that electrons are smaller than atoms, 50% flatly reject evolution, and 33% believe that astrology is either “sort of scientific” or “very scientific.” Now, to be fair, 56% of the test subjects had never taken a college-level science course, and 69% never took physics in high school (seriously?), but still. Come on now. The fricking Earth revolves around the fricking sun, people.

Worst, six people in the study reported that they primarily get their science news from the government. Yikes!