- In the past few days, the Internet has been filled with commentary on whether the National Science Foundation should have paid for my study on duck genitalia, and 88.7 percent of respondents to a Fox news online poll agreed that studying duck genitalia is wasteful government spending. The commentary supporting and decrying the study continues to grow. As the lead investigator in this research, I would like to weigh in on the controversy and offer some insights into the process of research funding by the NSF.
Marginalization of the intelligentsia is a propaganda tool predating Marxism/Leninism. "Look at those stupid bourgeoisie and their foppish pursuits!" was certainly said on the path to the guillotine. Orwell touched on it in Animal Farm. Whenever you see someone saying "look at the silly scientists!" you know that they're basically saying "follow me unthinkingly for The Strong have always taken care of The Stupid in their eternal struggle against The Smart."
I'm inclined to think that the Fox News crowd just has Duck Envy. Seriously though, there is so much fantastic science that has the ability to have an understood impact that people have a hard time with the abstract. I don't think most people have any idea how competitive the grant world is. I didn't until a scientist friend made me more aware of the process. It's pretty cut-throat and seems to have a lot to do with "reputation" and "tenure" as much as it does the validity of your science.
The essential question is, how does research on duck genitalia benefit us as humans? It's probably reasonable to assume that the majority of respondents to the Fox News online poll are much less informed on the topic of evolutionary biology than people who would be present at the grant hearing. The committee who rejected funding the grant had to compare this research with other important research, and had to decide what was more important. How people who frequent the Fox News website feel on the topic is irrelevant, other than pointing out the gross misunderstanding of science by the public.