A third of people surveyed believed humans walked the Earth with dinosaurs.

Did humans live at the same time as dinosaurs?

The answer is of course no, but about a third of Australians got it wrong in a recent survey.

The survey results are being used to highlight what is being described as a disturbing ignorance about science.

Dr Cathy Foley, president of the Australian Scientific and Technological Societies, says Australians have a long way to go before having good scientific literacy.

‘We asked six basic questions in a survey of 1,500 people and only 3 per cent or 4 per cent of them got them all correct,’ she said.

‘Unfortunately 30 per cent of Australians think reptiles or dinosaurs and humans were alive at the same time, for example, which is probably something I guess worries us.

‘Also basic things like how much of the Earth is covered by water, how much of the water we have is fresh.

‘These are things we should probably know just as general knowledge as something which a significant, about 30 per cent of the population, aren’t able to answer correctly.’

Dr Foley says science literacy should be about people being able to use science in a number of ways.

‘One is to […]