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I'm sure you will be elated to see what the idiots in Washington are spending your tax dollars on. Think of this next payday when you review your pay stub and the taxes you pay. I'm sure it will make you proud to be an American.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $384,949 grant to Yale University for a study on “Sexual Conflict, Social Behavior and the Evolution of Waterfowl Genitalia”, according to the recovery.gov website.
The grant description says,“The project examines how reproductive morphology covaries with season, age, and social environment in a diverse sample of duck species that differ in ecology, territoriality and breeding system.”
Government spending is justified on just about everything but the outrageously expensive Military Contractors and needless wars for personal vendetta.
The national science foundation is a 'lost in the round off" compared to our military expenditures. It is always worth spending to know more about the universe we live in as contrasted with blowing up some other guy’s country.
Government spending is justified on just about everything but the outrageously expensive Military Contractors and needless wars for personal vendetta.
The national science foundation is a 'lost in the round off" compared to our military expenditures. It is always worth spending to know more about the universe we live in as contrasted with blowing up some other guy’s country.
So let me see if I follow your logic. If we waste money on the military, it's OK to waste money on the sex lives of Ducks?
A few days ago, CNS News (“The right news. Right now.”) discovered that the National Science Foundation has been funding a study on the evolution of waterfowl genitalia.
When someone brought this item to my attention, I was puzzled. After all, this is not breaking news. I should know–I wrote about it for the New York Times almost six years ago.
This old news now seems to have gotten fresh currency thanks to the fact that some of the research was funded through the 2009 American Recover and Reinvestment Act, a k a the Stimulus Package. And so, CNS News believes, you can draw a direct line from the funds that went to this research to the new cuts in government services due to the sequester.
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Commenters on these posts left remarks like ”PLS SHOOT ME NOW AS I CAN TAKE NO MORE OF OBAMA AND HIS SPENDING.” (Of course, I wrote my article back in the Bush years, but, hey, who needs to get bogged down in reality?)
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Now, I will not get into a debate about precisely how much money should go to the National Science Foundation, versus, say, subsidies for oil companies. I just want to address the question of why we fund basic research in the first place.
Scientists use the word “basic” to distinguish scientific research that’s not directed at some specific practical problem. Developing a vaccine for the latest strain of the flu is applied research. Learning how the body generates antibodies to flu viruses is basic research. Basic research can lead to applications, but we don’t know in advance what particular studies will or won’t. That’s because we have much left to understand about how the world works.
For some reason, people like Palin and Coburn are fond of animals when they’re looking for something to make fun of. Understanding the basics of how animals work seems to them like a joke. This just speaks to a misunderstanding of the research. Animals affect us directly in lots of ways. We eat them, they eat our food, they harbor diseases, and they produce interesting compounds that may lead to useful drugs. Scientists do a lot of applied research on animals to address these issues, and they also do basic research on animals, which sometimes leads to applications. If you actually take a look at the animal research Palin was mocking, she could not have picked a worse example to make her point. The research involved looking for parasitic wasps that can kill a fly that is devastating California’s olive orchards.
Studying animal biology is not just important for our own direct well-being. It’s also important if we want to be good stewards of the environment.
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As in many other species, the evolution of ducks has been driven in part by something call sexual conflict. The best reproductive strategy for a male duck is not the same as the one for a female. Females will have the most duckling if they can choose the best males to father their offspring. Males, on the other hand, try to mate with as many females as possible. This sexual conflict leads to an extravagant arms race, which has produced their extravagant sexual organs.
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Sexual conflict may explain some of the disorders of pregnancy. Take preeclampsia, a mysterious condition in which pregnant women develop dangerously high blood pressure–so high that they risk death.
... These insights into sexual conflict’s effects on humans may prove important to our own health. They may guide us to new ways to treat preeclampsia and infertility. But they’ve arrived late in the study of sexual conflict. Other scientists first explored sexual conflict in many other species first–species including ducks. That’s just how science works, no matter what culture warriors may claim.
The organization "Ducks Unlimited" takes on new meaning.
Most of our military extravagance yields nothing but profit for the contractors and death for the soldiers and their victims. Research into the sexual conflict of ducks yields information on sexual conflict amongst mammals. The former is deliberate waste and the latter possibly useful.
Government spending is justified on just about everything but the outrageously expensive Military Contractors and needless wars for personal vendetta.
The national science foundation is a 'lost in the round off" compared to our military expenditures. It is always worth spending to know more about the universe we live in as contrasted with blowing up some other guy’s country.
The organization "Ducks Unlimited" takes on new meaning.
Most of our military extravagance yields nothing but profit for the contractors and death for the soldiers and their victims. Research into the sexual conflict of ducks yields information on sexual conflict amongst mammals. The former is deliberate waste and the latter possibly useful.
And jobs for millions of workers. I thought all of you Big Government people liked government spending because it provides jobs......
So you would rather fund duck sex research than have White House tours?
I would prefer to spend far more on White House Tours, National Parks, NASA and Science Research of any kind than another dime wasted on the Middle East and our Corporate Military welfare system.
I'm sure you will be elated to see what the idiots in Washington are spending your tax dollars on. Think of this next payday when you review your pay stub and the taxes you pay. I'm sure it will make you proud to be an American.
The National Science Foundation (NSF) has awarded a $384,949 grant to Yale University for a study on “Sexual Conflict, Social Behavior and the Evolution of Waterfowl Genitalia”, according to the recovery.gov website.
The grant description says,“The project examines how reproductive morphology covaries with season, age, and social environment in a diverse sample of duck species that differ in ecology, territoriality and breeding system.”
Meanwhile, Obama cancels White House tours and closes airport facilities.
I'd characterize their spending as more like a reckless looting of the US treasury. Our congress has become a caricature of a spoiled children of a corrupt king. They spend money at the drop of a hat, on whatever catches their fancy.
"Oh look Nigel, a golden penguin with a silver, jewel encrusted cane. I simply must have it."
"What shall I do with it, sir?"
"Oh, just place it in storage for now, I might find a use for it later."
It's like this with the president and his family too. They could go skying in the hills around Virginia, but the first Lady simply must fly the additional hour or more to Aspen, at a cost of $180,000 per hour.
They drop hundreds of millions at the drop of a hat for pet projects like green energy companies, and they never met a stupid university research project they didn't love.
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