The Sino-US Bilateral Seminar on Public Understanding of Science was jointly held by the China National Science Foundation Committee (NSFC) and the National Science Foundation (NSF) of the United States.

Experts from the two countries exchanged their experiences in efforts to popularize science.

Hyman Field from the NSF of the United States said that wide-ranging cooperation between the two countries should be strengthened in the areas of science museum construction, exhibition design, film and TV program production and Internet science promotion.

Cui Jianping from the China Association for Science and Technology (CAST) said that China should introduce expertise from foreign countries to science museums and exhibitions to attract the public to science.

Zhao Fuyuan, a researcher from the Beijing Observatory under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), suggested that research facilities in scientific institutes should be used to increase the popularity of science.

Zhao said that Sino-foreign cooperation is needed to investigate meteorite resources and craters in China, and it is a good method to promote public understanding of astronomy.

The Information Center of CAST has introduced a large amount of information from the US popular science websites, which has been translated into Chinese and been put on Chinese websites.

In addition, the network center of CAS has set up a dozen of virtual museums on the web in the fields of botany, astronomy, paleontology, entomology, limnology and seismology. The network is looking forward to introducing more science information from aboard to enrich the web museums.

The experts will visit Chinese science museums, TV stations, and research institutes in the coming days and sign cooperation agreements for enhancing understanding of science.

(Xinhua 11/3/2000)