The coronavirus outbreak has underscored the prominent role that science news and information can play in public life, and there are signs that Americans are now paying more attention to science news.
A bar chart showing that about a quarter of Americans say they talk about science at least a few times a week.
More than half of U.S. adults (56%) say they talk about science news with others at least a few times a month, including about a quarter (24%) who say they talk about science news at least a few times a week. The remaining 43% say they do so less often, according to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in December 2021.
Online, about half of adult social media users in the United States (48%) say they have seen science content on social platforms in the past few weeks, while 33% go further and say they proactively follow a page or account that focuses on science news. The share of social media users who say they follow an account focused on science content is also higher than in 2017, when 26% said they did this.
Science can bring to mind a range of topics for people, including health and medicine, artificial intelligence, and space exploration. In the 2021 survey, there is some variation in how often Americans talk about and follow accounts on specific science-related topics, including health and medicine, the coronavirus outbreak, and energy and the environment.
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