This book is emerged from an insightful essay by the American Nobel chemist Dudley Herschbach, speculating about how the mythological Hercules might have tackled a hypothetical, monumental task, or "thirteenth labor," such as weighing the Earth's atmosphere.
1. Toward a Scienceless Society? 2. Transdisciplinarity in Science Education and in Science Communication 3. The Neglected, but Not Negligible, Responsibility of Science to Society and to Future Generations 4. Toward an Empathic Science: The Hidden Subtext for Fundamental Educational Change 5. Cosmological Education for Future Generations 6. Tolstoy, Napoleon and Gompers 7. The Thirteenth Labor of Hercules 8. Science Education and the Crisis of Gullibility 9. False Experts, Valid Expertise 10. Confronting Complexity: A New Meaning to World Literacy 11. Sciences and the Future of Human Culture 12. The Guidance System of Higher Mind: Implications for Science and Science Education 13. A Question of Will, Not Knowledge 14. Some Remarks about Education 15. Science Literacy for the 21st Century: The Role of Science Centers 16. Networking, Interdisciplinarity, and Scientific/Technical Literacy: Perspectives from the Space Program 17. Why Don't Physics Students Understand Physics? Building a Consensus, Fostering Change 18. Toward a Science-Friendly Society
