Aw, I hear you yet do not agree that you're illiterate because undoubtedly you have a career lingo of your own which outside others don't understand. Each field seems to have its own lingo.
Generally speaking some scientists have a difficult time putting concepts which are simple for them to understand into everyday language that anyone outside of their community will also understand. After they've sunk their time, energy and money for 4 years college, then 4+ years grad school education; and then written research papers to be read and appreciated (or not) by their peers, it's easy to understand how difficult it might be for some of them to remember how to communicate with anyone outside of their specialty.
American scientists who were born and raised in this country, learned the standard English measurement system long before encountering the metric system in college.
Because they're Americans, the English system of measure is their 'first language'. They haven't forgotten it, and can communicate simple concepts of measure in that language just as fluently as they can in the metric language.
Those who speak to laymen on regular basis, do them a disservice by using a language they have no practical experience with. It actually creates non-comprehension in the recipient.
Say the word 'kilometer' to me, and I know that it's shorter than a mile, but I don't have any real world estimate of how long a kilometer really is. On the other hand, I've walked many a mile, and have an innate sense of that linear proportion. Communicating units of distance in terms of miles creates an instant understanding of the approximate quantity of distance in my mind.
The exact reverse would happen if you communicated units of measure in the English system to an audience of people who live in a metric based country.
Earth Quake, Sismos @EarthQuake_glob 3m 4.8 earthquake, 67km E of Iwaki, Japan. Oct 15 14:58 at epicenter (25m ago, depth 31km).
http://j.mp/17qJbj3