北卡羅來納州人民並非問題所在

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本文發表於《大眾科學》的前部落格網路,僅反映作者觀點,不一定代表《大眾科學》的觀點


在這個專欄裡,我多次抱怨北卡羅來納州州議會和州長反對科學,除非發生重大變化,否則我可能會繼續這樣做。但一項新的調查提出了一個極好的反駁,北卡羅來納州公民應該儘可能頻繁地大聲疾呼

我們不是問題所在!

北卡羅來納州最受歡迎景點調查中,排名第一的是北卡羅來納州自然科學博物館,包括其壯觀的新自然研究中心,其中有每日星球,世界上最大的地球儀。整個博物館坐落在州議會的街對面,而州議會在最近一段時間在科學方面讓自己蒙羞,因此僅僅在博物館周圍閒逛不一定有幫助。


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此外,我應該在這裡宣告,我是NCMNS之友理事會的成員,所以你必須認識到,無論博物館是否贏得人氣競賽,我都熱愛和支援它。但它確實很受歡迎:2012年有120萬遊客;排名第二的景點是比爾特莫莊園,位於阿什維爾,這個範德比爾特家族的超級豪宅號稱是美國最大的私人住宅,有110萬遊客,因此在卡羅萊納出版協會製作這份榜單的九年裡,比爾特莫莊園首次沒有獲勝:一家科學博物館獲勝了。對於一個其領導層最近全身心投入科學否定論和抨擊教育的州來說,這意義重大。

還有更多好訊息:NCMNS並非孤立無援。在北卡羅來納州十大最受歡迎的景點中,有六個至少在某種程度上與科學相關:夏洛特的發現地(第三),北卡羅來納州動物園(第四),彈珠兒童博物館(第六),北卡羅來納州植物園(第九)和生命與科學博物館(第十)。我們十大最受歡迎的博物館或歷史遺址中有六個與科學有關。

所以我要再說一遍,對於所有考慮來這裡工作、娛樂、生活、訪問的人們:問題不在於人民。人民喜歡科學和教育。立法機構和州長不喜歡。人民將在這裡長期存在。和我們在一起,夥計們。科學終將取得勝利。

Scott Huler was born in 1959 in Cleveland and raised in that city's eastern suburbs. He graduated from Washington University in 1981; he was made a member of Phi Beta Kappa because of the breadth of his studies, and that breadth has been a signature of his writing work. He has written on everything from the death penalty to bikini waxing, from NASCAR racing to the stealth bomber, for such newspapers as the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the Los Angeles Times and such magazines as ESPN, Backpacker, and Fortune. His award-winning radio work has been heard on "All Things Considered" and "Day to Day" on National Public Radio and on "Marketplace" and "Splendid Table" on American Public Media. He has been a staff writer for the Philadelphia Daily News and the Raleigh News & Observer and a staff reporter and producer for Nashville Public Radio. He was the founding and managing editor of the Nashville City Paper. He has taught at such colleges as Berry College and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

His books include Defining the Wind, about the Beaufort Scale of wind force, and No-Man's Lands, about retracing the journey of Odysseus.

His most recent book, On the Grid, was his sixth. His work has been included in such compilations as Appalachian Adventure and in such anthologies as Literary Trails of the North Carolina Piedmont, The Appalachian Trail Reader and Speed: Stories of Survival from Behind the Wheel.

For 2014-2015 Scott is a Knight Science Journalism Fellow at MIT, which is funding his work on the Lawson Trek, an effort to retrace the journey of explorer John Lawson through the Carolinas in 1700-1701.

He lives in Raleigh, North Carolina, with his wife, the writer June Spence, and their two sons.

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