Well, howdy there, Internet people, it's Bell again.

So today, we're going to talk about the public's trust in science and a baffling contradiction.

Pew Research has kept track of the American public's faith in researchers and scientists over the years.

And for the first time in years, there was substantially more

faith than the year before. In April of 2020, 87% of Americans expressed a great deal or a fair

amount of confidence in scientists to act in the public's best interest. Then it ticked down to 84% in November of 2020.

Then it dropped further in December of 2021 to 77%,

where it stayed until October of 2023, when it fell to 73%.

Now, it's back up to 76%.

So, at least we're headed the right way.

But we aren't back up to pre-pandemic levels yet.

There's another set of stats asking about whether scientists are intelligent, and that was almost

90%. Then it asks about whether or not they're good communicators, and less than half believe that,

which knowing a lot of researchers, that's fair.

Don't groan.

You know it's true.

In fact, when researchers or scientists are good at communications, they become celebrities.

But then it gets, well, weird.

48% of those surveyed believed research scientists should stay out of policy debates. What?

76% confidence in scientists to act in the public's best interest, but only 51% want them to engage in public policy debates. Tell me, a quarter of the public

would rather have a comforting lie than an uncomfortable truth without telling me. Do you think

76% of Americans would have a great deal or a fair amount of confidence that politicians

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