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Carnegie Institution For ScienCe 1530 P Street NW Washington D.C. 20005-1910 202.387.6400 President Matthew P. Scott Science Deputy to the President Margaret Moerchen Director Department of Embryology Allan C. Spradling Acting Director Geophysical Laboratory George Cody Director Department of Global Ecology Christopher Field Director The Observatories Crawford H. Greenewalt Chair John Mulchaey Director Department of Plant Biology Wolf Frommer Director Department of Terrestrial Magnetism Richard Carlson Chief Operating Officer Timothy Doyle Senior Director of Administration and Corporate Secretary Cynthia Allen Chief Information Officer Gotthard Sghi-Szab Director External Affairs Susanne Garvey Editor Tina McDowell Science Writer Natasha Metzler www.CarnegieScience.edu cientific discoveries continue to dazzle NASAs New Horizons Probe Glimpses Plutos Icy Heart1 Homo Naledi New Species in Human Lineage is Found in South African Cave.2 Big breakthroughs first appear in science journals and then travel through major news organizations and social media outlets. Many of our countrys strengths personal freedom wealth health longevity military vibrant art have been firmly based on science and technology sometimes summarized as STEM Science Technology Engineering and Math. Do you have access to a free press How Do you hear opinions and events from around the world How Where did you hear the latest music you love How did you hear it Inventions and discoveries in mathematics chemistry physics biology and engineering produced manned flight modern agriculture cell phones the internet. Similarly science and technology allow us to detect and correct problems epidemics invasions by people or foreign species pollution food contamination environmental destruction. Technology also brings concern dismay and fearthe frightening power of weapons invasion of privacy online theft. To take advantage of the good and to strengthen it and to respond to the bad it is crucial for everyone to have some understanding of scientific processes of observation deduction testing and inference and about how technological design and production builds upon the science. A starting point for improving the world is fact-based assessment of the present and possible futures. A modest level of familiarity with STEM equips people with an understanding of possible benefits and possible dangers of technology and stimulates ideas about how to maximize the former and control the latter. Deeper in the news pages lie troubling statistics about our nations scientific literacy. A recent Gallup poll3 reveals that two out of five Americans believe that the Earth has existed for less than 10000 years a blink of an eye compared to the 4.5 billion years deduced from radioactive decay age dating and in contradiction to essentially all that is known from astronomy and physics. In 2014 and 2015 record numbers of measles outbreaks were spread Bridging the Gap Between Wonder and Ignorance We have the freedom needed to limit and direct technology to devise intelligent ways . . . of developing and limiting our power and to put technology at the service of another type of progress one which is healthier more human more social more integral. In this regard I am confident that Americas outstanding academic and research institutions can make a vital contribution in the years ahead. Pope Francis speech to Congress September 24 2015 L etter from the P resident and S cience D eput y