> Nah. Most people barely change channels from whatever they’re watching.
They very much do if it's sportsball or political news.
> I doubt 50% or more of the population would know or care.
Don't need 50% of the population. 5% would be more than enough to get the snowball rolling. All that's needed is to normalize that perusing scientific papers is how you learn about things, much like reading books or using Google is normalized.
Even if you made it super easy and public access, I doubt 50% or more of the population would know or care.