Let's face it: science is a complicated, perplexing topic that mostly goes over people's heads after they finish high school. But as it turns out, we might know more about the basics than we give ourselves credit for.
In a recent Pew survey, most US adults were able to answer questions about the Earth's core or nuclear weapons, but their science knowledge wavered when it came to concepts like the properties of a sound wave.
The questions focused on the physical sciences (physics, astronomy, geology, etc.) rather than the life sciences (health, medicine, etc.).
That's because, Pew explained, they wanted to check out how big the gender gaps were and those gaps are larger in the physical sciences.
But before we give away too many of the answers, take the quiz for yourself (you might need to scroll down a bit if you're using a desktop):
OK, now check out how you stack up to the average American.
The survey covered 3,278 Americans. The average American scored a 65 percent on the test. A super-smart 6 percent of participants got a perfect score.
Luckily, almost three-quarters of survey participants knew the difference between astronomy and astrology (though a full 22 percent did think that the question, which asked about the pseudoscience astrology, referred to astronomy).
In the original survey, there were some gaps between what men and women knew. Men scored 8.6 out of 12, or 71.6 percent, on average, while women scored 7.3 out 12, or 60 percent, on average. And that gender difference was consistent across all education levels.
There were also differences among ethnicities, with people who are white scoring on average 11 percent higher than people who are hispanic, and 21 percent higher than people who are black.
These results come amid a big push by policymakers to get more people in on Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics and reports that show that women are less represented than men in STEM-related jobs, especially science.
But hey, at least 86 percent of us know that the hottest layer on Earth is its core.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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