Science and society

Abstract

There seems to be more science on our televisions and in our newspapers and bookshops than ever before. Can it be that the increased attention that the science community has paid to what was once called the “public understanding of science”, and now goes by the more user-friendly name of “science and society”, has actually paid off? It is difficult to say. One reason why there is more science in the media is simply that there are more hours of airtime and more newspaper (and web) pages to fill. The world may have become more scientific thanks to developments in medical science and information technology, but there is little evidence that public interest in science has increased relative to, say, that in sport or gardening.