What educated people should know about science

In a rather shallow article here, Charles Moore pontificates about Darwin and Christianity. Now I am not going to attack the article but just consider his shocking statement near the beginning "I am shockingly ignorant of science".

I find it extraordinary to find that a highly educated Cambridge graduate who went on to become the editor of the Daily Telegraph is showing such ignorance. Surprisingly the reverse isn't true: some of the most cultured, well read people I have met have been scientists and doctors: for instance the surgeon who operated upon my leg was an avid reader of US military history and was surprised to find me reading the same book as he was.

So what is it about science?

There are enough popular books on science that should be accessible for the arts graduates ( Dawkins's "The Ancestor's Tale" is an example or James Watson's "DNA: The Secret of Life" plus anything by Steven Pinker ) but for some reason people like Charles Moore seem unwilling to read them.

The overwhelming majority of the upper echelons of the British political and journalistic world are arts graduates and I suspect that the ignorance of science is endemic throughout that world.

So an idea: we see all over the place lists like "100 places to see before you die" ... so I propose a list of basic science and mathematical facts that all educated people know:

• Proof of Pythagoras (not just a^2+b^2=c^2)
• The names of the 4 bases that make up the DNA ladder
• Basic ideas of the Quantum Theory
  
• Big Bang Theory
  
• Modern Evolutionary theory - nothing too heavy!

I am not talking about deep knowledge - almost a bluffers guide in fact but people should know it ... and not admit that they are "Shockingly ignorant of science"

More ideas please!