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Science 7 July 2000:
Vol. 289. no. 5476, p. 61
DOI: 10.1126/science.289.5476.61
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Essays on Science and Society

ESSAYS ON SCIENCE AND SOCIETY:
The Nature of Evidence

Boyce Rensberger

In his essay, U. S. science writer Boyce Rensberger analyzes whether there is any truth behind the assertions that U. S. citizens are particularly ignorant about science and that the press is to blame for the high interest in pseudoscience. He concludes that many Americans are very interested in science, but cannot distinguish between good and bad science because they do not understand the standards that scientific evidence must meet. Rensberger urges scientists and science writers to pay more attention to the communication of the methods by which results have been achieved. See also the related essay by Roger Highfield.

The author is at Knight Science Journalism Fellowships, MIT E32-311, 77 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA 02139-4307, USA. E-mail: boyce{at}mit.edu

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THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
Assessing Mass Media Reporting of Disease-Related Genetic Discoveries: Development of an Instrument and Initial Findings.
E. Mountcastle-Shah, E. Tambor, B. A. Bernhardt, G. Geller, R. Karaliukas, J. E. Rodgers, and N. A. Holtzman (2003)
Science Communication 24, 458-478
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