Scientists are not, as Sporus would have you believe, a group of eletist hoarders of
knowledge. Scientific knowledge is widely available...ask anyone who has studied it, and they will almost certainly be more than happy to tell you
whatever you want to know. Or go to your local
library, or even search around here on
e2.
The widespread
ignorance of
science is less a result of the scarcity of scientific knowledge, and more the result of it being genuinely compicated. Students go to school for years to understand things like
general relativity and
quantum mechanics. They are very mathematical in nature, and not really suitable for after-school specials on
TV. But there is plenty of non-mathematical literature on these subjects, and for someone who really wants to understand them, there is nothing stoppping them from learning the material.
Moreover, most people just don't care about science. If it isn't directly relevant to their life, they don't want to know about it.