Science and technology are everybody's business

In 2011 the OECD celebrates its 50th anniversary, and to mark the occasion we’ll look briefly at how science and technology have evolved since the 1960s, how the OECD contributed to this evolution and the prospects for the 21st century.2011年，经济合作与发展组织迎来了它的第50个年头。为了纪念此刻，我们将简要回顾一下自60年代以来科技如何逐渐发展，经合组织对这种发展做出了怎样的贡献，并对21世纪进行一些展望。
Scientific issues are often sensationalised, trivialised, or misunderstood. 科学问题经常被描述得非常耸人听闻或者非常无聊，或者是被误解。The stories chosen by the media usually fall into one of three categories: breakthrough, silly or scare.媒体选择的科学故事通常可以被归为三大类：突破性的、无聊的或骇人听闻的。 Scare stories give a poor image of science, reinforcing the stereotype of the “mad scientist” whose research is dangerous for human health or the environment. Likewise, trivia such as the scientific formula for how to eat ice cream or write a sitcom present scientists as eccentrics and their research as futile. 骇人听闻的故事使人们对科学留下糟糕的印象，强化了科学家往往是“疯疯颠颠”的陈式形象，认为他们的研究成果往往会危害人类健康和环境。而一些无聊的文章会写一些“吃冰淇淋的科学方法”，或写一出情景剧来表现科学家的古怪形象，描写其研究成果毫无用处。Breakthrough stories give an image that is positive, but just as inaccurate as scares and trivia, ignoring the way ideas and intuitions emerge, are formulated as hypotheses and then tested, vindicated, revised or rejected over a period of time.突破性的故事倒是给人一种积极的印象，却也像科学留给人们的或琐碎或骇人听闻的形象一样不准确，忽视了构想和直觉产生的方式，先是被阐述成一些假设，然后不断被测试、被证实、被修正，经过一段时间后又被否定。

Scientific ignorance among the media and public impoverishes debate about serious choices facing society (presenting the GMO debate as Frankenstein food versus obscurantism, for example) but can also have dangerous consequences in a more direct manner. 媒体和公众对科学的无知使人们在针对严肃的社会决策问题进行讨论时很难得出圆满的结论（比如：关于转基因食品的讨论，有人认为他是“恶魔食品（frankenstein food），而有人认为这是愚民政策），但这样也许会以更直接的方式造成严重的后果。In 1998, the UK media widely reported a study that associated the MMR (measles, mumps rubella) vaccine with autism and bowel disease in children. 1988年，英国媒体大肆报道了一项关于MMR(麻疹、腮腺炎风疹)疫苗的研究，将该疫苗与儿童肠道疾病或孤独症联系了起来。The reports gave the impression that the scientific community was evenly divided as to the safety of the vaccine, whereas the research in question was widely criticised, no other studies corroborated its findings, and 10 of the 12 authors of the paper rejected the conclusions. 这则报道让人们认为科学界内部在疫苗的安全问题上也没有达成一致，然而随后这项尚处疑问中的研究成果就遭到了广泛的指责，也没有其他的研究能证实这项发现。该论文12位作者中的10位也否认了结论的正确性。Nonetheless, the rate of vaccination dropped dramatically, and in June 2006 British paediatricians issued an open letter criticising the scare stories and calling on parents to vaccinate their children –national coverage was down to 83%, while 95% coverage is needed to provide protection to the whole community, and the number of measles deaths was rising.不用说，疫苗注射率急剧下降。2006年6月，英国的小儿科医师们发表了一则公开信，公开谴责这则骇人听闻的传言并号召家长给孩子注射疫苗。此时全国疫苗注射率已经下降到了83%，而要保护整个社区的安全需要95%的疫苗接种率。死于麻疹的人数也在攀升。