A few months back, when I read Chapter 7 of the latest NSF Science and Engineering Indicators report (PDF), I noticed that the standard section detailing Americans' dismal views about evolution and the Big Bang was missing. But I wasn't sure what to make of that fact, so I shrugged and moved on. But now, Science magazine has investigated, and in turns out a lot of folks are extremely upset at this omission. That includes the National Center for Science Education and even the White House. There are charges of a whitewash--that these data were cut precisely because evolution and the Big Bang are the subjects where Americans appear the most "scientifically illiterate" in comparison with citizens from other countries:
The deleted text, obtained by ScienceInsider, does not differ radically from what has appeared in previous Indicators. The section, which was part of the unedited chapter on public attitudes toward ...
