Survey: Most Americans Doubt Occurrence of Big Bang

A recent survey conducted by the Associated Press and market research company GFK discovered that most Americans are still skeptical whether the Big Bang and other scientific theories are real.

The survey also showed that Americans are still unsure whether smoking causes cancer and if climate change is truly happening. Respondents for the survey were randomly chosen and interviewed through phone and email. The researchers didn't quiz them about generally known scientific facts, but instead, asked them to give a confidence rate. Four percent of the respondents didn't believe that smoking caused cancer, six percent doubted whether mental illness was a legitimate medical condition and eight percent were skeptical if genetic codes are really embedded in our cells. Fifteen percent said they weren't fully confident about the effectiveness of vaccines given to children.

Similarly, four in ten participants were doubtful about climate change and global warming, as well as the age of the earth. Fifty-one percent expressed doubts about the scientifically accepted theory for the start of the universe, the Big Bang.

The results have caused disappointment in most scientists, including Nobel Prize awardees, who believed the veracity of the statements given to the participants.

"Science ignorance is pervasive in our society, and these attitudes are reinforced when some of our leaders are openly antagonistic to established facts," 2013 Nobel Prize in medicine winner Randy Schekman of the University of California, Berkeley said in a press release.

Director of the Yale Project on Climate Change Communication Anthony Leiserowitz commented that the poll reflects the iron triangle created by religion, politics, and science. On the other hand, Alan Leshner, chief executive of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, the largest scientific organization, believed that the public's perception of scientific facts is affected by their values and beliefs.

Political inclination seems to affect a participant's answer as well - the survey revealed that Democrats are more likely to believe in evolution and the Big Bang theory than Republicans.

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