A 2001 poll conducted by the National Science Foundation in the US revealed the pervasiveness of the problem. Results showed that:

-Only 48% of Americans knew that the earliest humans did not live at the same time as the dinosaurs.

-Only 22% could properly define a molecule.

-Only 45% knew what DNA was and that lasers don't work by focusing sound waves

-Only 48% knew that electrons were smaller than atoms.

I can not comment how many times I have worked with people that have no grasp of the fundamentals of science and the scientific method. Not only we not produce enough scientists, but we produce a ridiculous amount of scientifically illiterate people.