Unscientific Americans

From a National Science Foundation's biennial report on the state of science understanding, research, and education, of 1,574 adults surveyed:

* 54% knew long it takes the Earth to orbit the sun. In other words, 46% did not know.
* 51% knew that antibiotics kill bacteria but not viruses.
* 48% knew that the earliest humans didn't live at the same time as the dinosaurs. So, an astounding 52% did not know.

What kind of information are Americans likely to know? The name of Tom Cruise’s baby and who Brad Pitt was married to before Angelina Joli… makes me weep for the state of our collective intelligence.