Science, society and science centres.

The present article analyzes the relation between technological changes and the advance of science, as well as the attitude of individuals in relation to science nowadays. According to researches carried out by the National Science Foundation in the United States, a large number of Americans and Europeans accept the benefits of science and technology, but have complex attitudes in relation to this topic. Contemporary cultures display this contradiction in many different ways. An evidence of this ambiguity is the prevailing image of scientists in popular culture: that of the mad scientist. Interpreting science and technology to a large and diversified audience is the main mission for most science centres. The changes that take place in society demand new approaches in the relationship with visitors. The present article analyzes the economic and intellectual sustainability of science centres and the continuously reinvented ways through which each one of them tires to shape its relationship with the community and with its identity as a science centre in the twenty-first century.