Glowing squids? Your tax dollars at work

7:25 PM, Oct. 25, 2013  |  Comments
  • Filed Under

Most science research in this country is funded through governmental agencies such as the National Institutes of Health and the National Science Foundation. For this reason, we excel in fundamental research that has broadened our understanding of the world around us.

But we are losing sight of the importance of basic, undirected science as our priorities shift toward research likely to yield immediately tangible results, such as disease cures. This is a mistake. Basic research that shows how things work is the basis for applied research. Without it we can't effectively combat disease, manage our resources, predict disasters, even understand how we interact with each other. Below are four examples, some of which were ridiculed as a waste of taxpayers' money. They weren't, and here's why.

In 1980 Wisconsin Senator Williams Proximire's "Golden Fleece" award went to a group studying why bowlers, hockey fans and pedestrians smile. Pretty silly, right? Actually, this work provided groundbreaking insight into how humans, including mothers and babies, communicate nonverbally.

Certain animals living deep in our oceans glow in the dark. Interesting and beautiful but hardly relevant to everyday human concerns, right? Wrong again. Some of these animals "glow" because when bacteria living in them reach a certain density, they produce a luminescent chemical, a process called "quorum sensing." Relevance? We now know that many bacteria use this process to produce, not luminescent chemicals, but toxins that cause disease. Interfering with this could become an important way to fight infection.

In 2011 a biologist came under fire for using government dollars to run shrimp on a treadmill. Disgraceful waste? No. The work was directed at determining how changes in ocean chemistry affect an important part of our food supply. The treadmills cost very little and were a small but important part of a much larger project.

We now know that the colorful deposits within and around the beautiful steaming pools in Yellowstone National Park are actually living organisms that thrive at temperatures and pHs that would be deadly to us. Similar organisms inhabit ocean depths near volcanic vents. These are among the most ancient forms of life, arising while earth was still hot and free of oxygen. That itself is fascinating and important, but of more direct relevance to us are the enzymes these microbes use for basic processes like energy production and DNA replication. Theirs are heat resistant, while ours would be denatured within a few seconds. The heat-resistant DNA-replicating enzyme has made possible a process now used worldwide in basic DNA research, for diagnosis of infections, for paternity tests, tests for genetic diseases, and forensic DNA tests. Who knew?

So, before you consider basic research as a waste of time and money, think twice. Don't judge a project by its name or because it doesn't sound like it could possibly be useful. Besides the very critical aspect of expanding our knowledge of the universe, it could very well improve our lives in ways we can't even imagine.

Leigh R.
., is professor emeritus at University of South Dakota Sanford School of Medicine and chair of the Iron County Democrats Contact her at

Things To Do


St. George Real Estate

Enter City and State, or ZIP




Most Commented