Basic astronomy, dinosaurs stump Aussies: study

More than a third of Australians do not know how long it takes for the Earth to orbit the Sun and one in four believe that dinosaurs and humans co-existed, a new survey has found.
The survey showed that the science literacy of young Australian adults has fallen in the last three years with less than two-thirds correctly identifying the time it takes for the Earth to travel around the Sun, compared with three-quarters in 2010.
The popular survey, Science literacy in Australia, conducted by Auspoll on behalf of the Australian Academy of Science, asked respondents questions of basic scientific fact.

The proportion of 18-24 year-olds who correctly answered that it takes one year for the Earth to orbit the Sun fell to 62 per cent, from 74 per cent.
People aged 65 and older were the lowest scoring age group, with only 46 per cent of respondents answering correctly, compared with 51 per cent in 2010.
There was a small increase in the number of people who know that the earliest humans did not live at the same time as dinosaurs - to 73 per cent compared with 70 per cent - and the number of Australians who believe that evolution is occurring was steady at 70 per cent compared with 71 per cent in 2010.

"It's a worrying wake-up call to see scientific literacy declining among young adults, and to a lesser degree among the broader Australian adult population," said Professor Les Field, the Australian Academy of Science Secretary for Science Policy.

The study found that only 39 per cent Australians surveyed knew that 70 per cent of the Earth's surface is under water.
As many as 59 per cent of all respondents knew the Earth takes one year to orbit the Sun.
However, 70 per cent know that evolution is currently occurring and 73 per cent know people are influencing the evolution of other species.

Almost 73 per cent know that the earliest humans did not live at the same time as dinosaurs and 79 per cent say science education is very important or absolutely essential to the economy.
Generally younger respondents, men and those with a higher education level were more likely to answer the questions correctly, researchers said.