ANU poll finds majority of Australians think science has made life easier

Ninety per cent of Australians think science has made life easier but nearly half of us feel that change has come too quickly.

The ANU was commissioned by the federal government to survey 1203 Australians about their views on science and science-related matters such as vaccinations, genetically modified foods, fracking and climate change.

The Australian Beliefs and Attitudes Towards Science Survey revealed more than 70 per cent of people felt at least "fairly well informed" about science, and 80 per cent said the benefits of science were greater than any harmful effects.

Australians overwhelmingly consider scientists to be people who, along with doctors and farmers, contribute most to the wellbeing of our society.

And, according to the survey, we all like to talk about it - with 80 per cent of people reporting they had conversations about science at least once or twice a month.

Australians overwhelmingly think parents should be required to vaccinate their children with 85 per cent of adults thinking this, compared to 68 per cent in the United States.

Around half of Australians are opposed to using animals in scientific research, and a similar proportion also oppose using nuclear energy.

But we're not as worried about GM foods. About 50 per cent of respondents felt GM foods were safe whereas 32.4 per cent felt the same about foods grown with pesticides.

And what about global warming?

Eighty per cent of respondents believed there was solid evidence the world has been warming the last few decades, with more than half of these people saying this was due to human activity, compared with a US equivalent of 46 per cent of adults.

Seven out of ten Australians were opposed to fracking according to the findings.

The proportion of Americans who favour fracking outnumber Australians by nearly three to one (15.7 per cent vs. 39 per cent).

The survey also asked how regularly working people used science, technology, maths and engineering skills.

More than 90 per cent used technology skills at least a few times per week, 80 per cent reported using maths skills as regularly, 50 per cent used science skills and 40 per cent used engineering skills.