In 2006, two marine biologists published the results of an experiment that will enshrine them in the annals of scientific history: They put a shrimp on a treadmill.
The unorthodox research was designed to study how changing ocean conditions affect animals’ resistance to disease. But the study’s purpose was overshadowed by its methodology after the biologists — Lou Burnett, at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, and David Scholnick, at Pacific University in Oregon — posted a video of the jogging crustacean to YouTube. The clip went viral; today, you can watch the decapod working out to Eye of the Tiger, the Benny Hill theme song, and Justin Timberlake’s Sexyback.
But the shrimp’s saga later took a dark turn. In 2011, Senator Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, included the federally funded experiment in his annual “Wastebook,” a compendium of supposedly frivolous government spending. Suddenly the shrimp was everywhere — skewered on a thousand websites, fried by talking heads, roasted in an AARP commercial. “I don't want my shrimp going to the gym," groused Mike Huckabee. Overnight, shrimp-on-a-treadmill had gone from charming internet curio to deplorable embodiment of government waste.
The whole episode would be funnier if it didn’t embody a metastasizing trend: attacks on government-funded science. No longer is it just Wastebooks that impugn the value of research. In October, Science reported on investigations led by Representative Lamar Smith, R-Texas, into federal grant-making procedures. Reported Jeffrey Mervis:
Smith has insisted that he’s not waging war on science — he’s just trying to make agencies more transparent and accountable. “If we, as a country, have decided to spend taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars on funding science and research, then we need to spend wisely,” he wrote recently.
Note EU-Digest: Maybe Republicans, instead of questioning Government funding for Science should question Government funding for military projects like the F35 etc. ?
Read more: Attacks on federal research funding anger scientists — High Country News
The unorthodox research was designed to study how changing ocean conditions affect animals’ resistance to disease. But the study’s purpose was overshadowed by its methodology after the biologists — Lou Burnett, at the College of Charleston in South Carolina, and David Scholnick, at Pacific University in Oregon — posted a video of the jogging crustacean to YouTube. The clip went viral; today, you can watch the decapod working out to Eye of the Tiger, the Benny Hill theme song, and Justin Timberlake’s Sexyback.
But the shrimp’s saga later took a dark turn. In 2011, Senator Tom Coburn, R-Oklahoma, included the federally funded experiment in his annual “Wastebook,” a compendium of supposedly frivolous government spending. Suddenly the shrimp was everywhere — skewered on a thousand websites, fried by talking heads, roasted in an AARP commercial. “I don't want my shrimp going to the gym," groused Mike Huckabee. Overnight, shrimp-on-a-treadmill had gone from charming internet curio to deplorable embodiment of government waste.
The whole episode would be funnier if it didn’t embody a metastasizing trend: attacks on government-funded science. No longer is it just Wastebooks that impugn the value of research. In October, Science reported on investigations led by Representative Lamar Smith, R-Texas, into federal grant-making procedures. Reported Jeffrey Mervis:
Four times this past summer, in a
spare room on the top floor of the headquarters of the National Science
Foundation (NSF) outside of Washington, D.C., two congressional staffers
spent hours poring over material relating to 20 research projects that
NSF has funded over the past decade... The Republican aides were looking
for anything that (Smith)... could use to support his ongoing campaign
to demonstrate how the $7 billion research agency is “wasting” taxpayer
dollars on frivolous or low-priority projects, particularly in the
social sciences.
Smith has insisted that he’s not waging war on science — he’s just trying to make agencies more transparent and accountable. “If we, as a country, have decided to spend taxpayers’ hard-earned dollars on funding science and research, then we need to spend wisely,” he wrote recently.
Note EU-Digest: Maybe Republicans, instead of questioning Government funding for Science should question Government funding for military projects like the F35 etc. ?
Read more: Attacks on federal research funding anger scientists — High Country News
No comments:
Post a Comment