 A recent email from a distant relative of mine illustrates the difference very neatly. The email was one of the top 5 circulated on the internet according to Snopes.com, and it relates to the use of an uncut onion to absorb illnesses, specifically influenza. An uncut onion, the email says, will attract bad diseases and turn black, preventing people nearby from getting sick. I don't know how many people at this moment have an uncut onion next to their beds, but I would imagine it in the hundreds of thousands. At the top of the message was a blurb from a friend of the relative, suggesting that the current flu vaccine may not be effective at all. What do doctors really know, after all, it asks. Now, onions certainly can be beneficial against influenza. You can have a loved one cook them up in a stew, and they will provide much needed nutrients during the week-long education about immunology and infectious disease you are about to experience. But an onion sitting next to your bed will not be effective prevention, any more than a box of Kleenex. It will turn black because of the release of sulfur compounds from damaged cell walls. The rejection of real science and adoption of pseudoscience lore beliefs surround us every day. Our politicians have very little time for real science. There are only four scientists in the US Congress so far as I know, including recently elected Bill Foster of the 14th District of Illinois. Representative Foster is a former Fermilab employee, and good for him for getting elected. He joins the other three, all of whom have PhDs in physics, except for mathematician Jerry McNerney. There's only one licensed engineer, my own representative from Texas, Joe Barton. Why aren't there more science and technology experts representing us in government? My own opinion because the electorate generally distrusts scientists. Our society has spent so much time making out researchers and scholars as eggheads, disconnected from the real world, or worse, amoral monsters who are blind to the consequences of their discoveries. There is a sense of distrust of science among those who hold the conservative beliefs based on tradition or scripture, and no politician gets elected without the trust of those 55% of Americans who think lasers are focused sound waves. I was astounded when, in the Republican primaries for the 2008 election, three potential future presidents stated that they did not believe in evolution. John McCain, the eventual Republican candidate, offered only a qualified acceptance. Some of this was no doubt pandering to those who devalue scientific knowledge. Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee later reiterated his position that as an ordained minister, he was willing to let people believe they evolved from primates. He apparently missed the fact that not only did we evolve from primates, we still are primates. He also stated that he was amazed that the evolution question would be asked of him. What difference does it make? He responded. I for one would like the head of the U.S. military and the largest nuclear arsenal in the world to know at least as much biology as a seventh grade student. What about the media? I think they have the same problem the politicians do. They have to appeal to a largely unscientific population. How many serious programs are there on ghosts, aliens, and communicating with the dead? I'm not talking fictional stories, but documentary-style programs that purport to reveal factual accounts of paranormal phenomenon. In our evening news programs, miracle cures, pseudoscience anecdotes, and miraculous revelation are mixed in with real stories about research, archaeological discovery, and medical breakthroughs. There is no perspective, no sense of proportion. Panic and fear-mongering keep people tuned in, and the programs get higher ratings when they warn us about the dangers all around us. Why is all of this so troubling? Because all of the resources needed for real change in our world—money, popular support, grassroots advocacy, media access, and political will—are currently controlled by those who view a scientific approach to the world as something they don't need. We are living in a society that tolerates, but not respects, logic, and reason. Our schools, our hospitals, our universities, our research institutions live at the whim of those who do not know that antibiotics cannot kill a virus, or that electrons are smaller than atoms. Our government policies are often based on lore, scripture, or appeals to popular beliefs, rather than sound science, logic, and the advice of knowledgeable experts. This is evident in many areas. They oppose public funding for stem cell research. They advocate a teach-the-controversy approach to the central theory of biology. They decline to supply Africans with birth control based on one group's scriptural beliefs, and the U.S. is declining in importance in the scientific world. America now ranks sixth in the world for the percentage of its GDP that it spends on research and development. Our scientific output is decreasing from 61 percent of scientific papers published by Americans in 1983 to 29 percent in 2005. All is not bleak, however. There are still some bastions of scientific thought left in the media, politics, and the popular consciousness. The popularity of shows like Mythbusters, which makes critical thought and experimental design entertaining, or Discovery Channel's Planet Earth series show that rationality can be entertaining and still bring in viewers. Some surveys suggest that politicians in the U.S. and Europe are becoming more savvy about the issues of healthcare research and global warming, and the way scientists and engineers are portrayed in movies has improved in some recent films. Some scientists are becoming more conscious of the role of science advocacy, and groups like the American Association for the Advancement of Science are increasing their outreach efforts. But there is still much to be done, and the most important task is preparing the next generation for the task of understanding the world in a logical, rational way. I want to close with a thought and a challenge to each of you watching. The thought is this, our continued existence on Earth as a species is not a given. There are many perils we as a society will face in the coming decades. If we allow our technological progress to be reversed by those who fear new knowledge, we will be unprepared to face those perils. There has never been a more important struggle for the minds and soul of humanity than we face now. This is a race we cannot afford to lose. Science and rationality are our only weapons against an unforgiving universe and our own human nature. The challenge is simply this, do something about it. Make a video, or start a conversation with a friend, call your representative, or write in your blog, mirror this video on your channel, or whatever you can think to do to raise the issue again and again. If anything in this video concerns you enough to act on, please do. Science and reason needs all the help it can get. Thanks for watching.