A national survey from The Australian Academy of Science found out that Aussies did not know if humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs.

Some 1,500 survey participants were asked: Is the following statement true or false? The earliest humans lived at the same time as dinosaurs.

30 per cent out of the 1500 participants did not know the answer.

According to the survey, this percentage showed a small increase in the number of people who know that the earliest humans did not live at the same time as dinosaurs - only 73% increase to 70% compared when the same survey was conducted previously.

In an interview with The West, Professor Les Field of the academy said that movies like Jurassic park and TV shows like Terra Nova are factors that contributed to Aussie's confusion over what was factual and what was fictional.

He said, "This is the legacy of movies like Jurassic park, which show people running alongside dinosaurs, plus the rise of special effects that make it difficult to distinguish fact from fiction.

In a separate interview with ABC News, Prof Field reiterated his observation, "Dinosaurs and humans missed each other by more than 60 million years. We do have some popular TV and some movies like Jurassic park and some terrific graphics which make these things look incredibly real."

"...when you see dinosaurs and humans running alongside each other and it makes it difficult for people to distinguish fact from fiction."

Prof Field also expressed strong concern about the education system in Australia and that if things do not change; there could be an even further decline in science literacy.

"I would hope that a survey like ours is a wake-up call that says there is an issue, an underlying issue that we need to address. If nothing else our education system really does have to have a focus on the fundamental sciences, the maths, the chemistry, the physics and biology, all the way through our school curriculum. We need to ensure that each of our students come through the system with an appropriate toolkit to be a part of the modern society we live in."

"Even if it is as much looking under the bonnet of your car and understanding what superficially some of the bits do, or wether it is contributing to the debate that we are having around climate change or drugs in sport- all of these issues require a degree of scientific literacy simply to participate in the debate."

In an official media release from the academy, Prof Field said that, "It is a worrying wake-up call to see scientific literacy declining among young adults and to a lesser degree among the broader Australian adult population..."

"However, I am very pleased that there is strong acknowledgment that science education is important to the Australian economy: indeed, quality science education is essential to building the skilled workforce and innovation economy of the future, as well as to raising scientific literacy in the general community."