What is it about?
University and high school students in Sweden have answered questions about, for example, whether they believe in the existence of life outside our Earth, if and how long before we will find it, how well informed they feel they are regarding the search for life outside our planet and if searching for alien life is something we should do and how important it is to do it.
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Why is it important?
It is important for those involved in education and outreach about the search for life outside our planet to know their target audience.
Perspectives
This survey has shown very clearly that Swedish students in general have a strong belief in the existence of life outside our planet. It also shows that this belief varies very little between different fields of study, between genders and between university and highs school students. It also shows the students are generally positive towards searching for life outside our planet, even though the majority of the students does not want to give it the highest priority. A very important finding is that most of those who are in favour of searching for life outside our planet are motivated by interest and curiosity, while those who are less positive usually question its practical value of such research. Very few students are worried about risks in connection with the search for life outside our planet.
Erik Persson
Lunds Universitet
Read the Original
This page is a summary of: Attitudes towards the scientific search for extraterrestrial life among Swedish high school and university students, International Journal of Astrobiology, January 2018, Cambridge University Press,
DOI: 10.1017/s1473550417000556.
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