There is another source of public interest in our concern about science, which is that science, medicine and technology are closely linked to the processes of change in a world that is rapidly becoming more complex and, some would say, more hazardous. These concerns take many forms: the accident at Three Mile Island; Love Canal and other uncontrolled toxic wastes dumps; the ethics of medical experimentation; the proliferation of nuclear weapons systems. Clearly, an increasing number of major public issues in fields such as energy, health care, environmental protection, and defense--have roots in science and technology, and this has also contributed to a broader public interest. People need more information

to cope with these issues, both as consumers and as concerned

citizens.

Whether people are interested in scientific discoveries

because of the native curiosity of our species or are simply seeking information to cope with a changing world, there is no question in my mind that the interest, the demand, is there. Attendance at science museums is up. The science television program NOVA is consistently among the most popular offerings on public television. And, in my own area of publishing, the audience for information about science is large and growing. Let me dwell in more

detail on this latter area, since it is the only one in

which I can claim any firsthand knowledge.

Let us look first at some specific examples that characterize

the interest in information about science and the publishing world's response to it. The best-selling issue of Time magazine in 1977 was one that featured a science cover story (How Man Became Man). It was not a fluke. Time science covers are dependably among the year's best-sellers to its circulation of 4.3 million. Newsweek (circulation 2.9 million) finds that its science and medicine sections are among the most closely read of all its regualr departments. Popular Science reaches 1.8 million subscribers

every month.

Scientific American has climbed to a circulation

of 680 thousand. The New York Times recently began publication of a weekly special section devoted to science. Even general circulation magazines such as the New Yorker and the Atlantic Monthly have in recent years increased the amount of science-related material that they publish. The trend extends to books--a few months ago the non-fiction best-seller list contained two science books--Broca's Brain

by Carl Sagan and The Medusa and the Snail by Lewis Thomas.

But in

With this long list of publications, you might think that the public interest in science would be well-satisfied. fact science is rather thinly covered in the popular press. Of some 9,700 magazines published in the United States there are only two devoted to science that reach large

audiences--Scientific American and Popular Science--and

they occupy quite different portions of the publishing

specturm.

Two years ago these considerations lead my organization, the American Association for the Advancement of Science,

to study the possibility of launching a new popular magazine of science. We concluded that the public has a continuing need for reliable information about the many scientific and technological developments that affect their lives. Government agencies need public understading of the scientific basis for policy or regulatory decisions. Corporations have a stake in the acceptance of new technology, which requires an informed public. So many individuals and organizations are affected in one way or another that the effective functioning of our society is to some degree dependent on the caliber of public understanding of science.

Despite this need, we felt that there exists a significant communications gap between the scientific community and the general public. The existing channels of information are simply not adequate, the scope of the educational requirement enormous. The AAAS, as a not-for profit scientific and educational organization includes among its principal aims the advancement of public understanding of science. And, to make a long story short, as one step toward filling the communication gap, the AAAS did decide to undertake a new magazine dedicated "to bridge the distance between

science and the citizen." It is a large undertaking for a small organization, but the public response has been tremendous--enough so that I would offer its progress as antoehr small piece of evidence that there is a strong, vital interest in information about on the part of the American public. We have just printed the 3rd issue of the magazine--called SCIENCE 80--and the circulation is about 350,000 and climbing. I have provided copies of

this issue for the Committee.

Since SCIENCE 80 was launched, several commercial, publishers have also begun considering new popular science magazines--including the Hearst Corporation and Time, Inc. So apparently the AAAS is not alone in sensing a strong public demand for more information about science.

What does this boom in sceince publishing mean for science education activities? The conclusion I draw--I should say that I am certainly no expert in science education--is that the need for science education in the broadest sense of the term

has never been greater. Our world is changing rapidly and science is perhaps the most powerful cause of that trans formation, a gene for change within the social fabric or our society. It is essential that we understand it and manage

it well.

To put the point in more personal terms--I am an editor

and on the receiving end of many letters and communications

from readers, hot-tempered and otherwise. I can assure

this Committee that there is a very vocal and concerned

lay audience out there for science and technology matters in

our

society. It is important that their concerns and their

need for information not be neglected.