MOSCOW, September 18. /ITAR-TASS/. Nearly two thirds of Russians take a keen interest in achievements in the present-day science, especially in medicine and biology, according to a public opinion poll result made public on Wednesday.

According to a poll conducted by the Public Opinion Fund, as many as 61% of Russians take interest in scientific achievements, and 38% take no interest in science. Men proved to feel more interest in such matters (68%) than women (54%).

The most interesting areas are medicine, biology and biotechnologies (14% of the polled). As many as 9% said they were curious about achievements in space exploration, aviation, and computer science. 7% said they had interest in technology achievements, 4% have interest in mathematics, physics, chemistry, and psychology. Only 1% of the polled said they take interest in agricultural technologies, 2% - in economic sciences. Other spheres are of interest for slightly more than 1% of respondents. 8% said they were curious about everything.

The overwhelming majority of the polled (82%) said it was important for regular people to keep abreast with the latest developments in science. Nearly half of the polled /48%/ never read popular science magazines or books. Twenty percent do it occasionally, and 23% - rarely.

Popular science films and television programmes are in a much bigger demand. As many as 42% of the polled said they watched such films or prgrammes from time to time, twenty one percent said they do it often, and twenty two percent -rarely.

Museums and exhibitions enjoy much less popularity among Russians - only 27% of respondents said they had visited a technical exhibition or a museum in the past two to three years.

A total of 54% discuss achievements of modern science with friends and relatives often or occasionally, while 45% do it rarely or never.

The poll involved 1,500 respondents older than 18 in 43 Russian regions. The statistical error is within 3.6%