The author reflects on the public's understanding of science. He notes that the prospect of changing the public's understanding of science is a challenge that scientists find despairing, but that is tangible. He offers two examples to illustrate his point including one in which citizens who sent two petitions to the U.S. National Academies to keep the light brown apple moth, Epiphyas postvittana, off the agency's quarantine-significant pest list due to questions of eradication feasibility.