Scientist guts Rand Paul on fish study:
“In the military they have $5.2 million they spent on goldfish — studying goldfish to see how democratic they were and if we could learn about democracy from goldfish,” Paul said on Fox. “I would give the president the authority to go ahead and cut all $5 million in goldfish studies.”
"But Couzin charged Paul “misrepresented” the research that scientists have been doing for about four years. First of all, Couzin said, they studied golden shiner fish — not goldfish.
He also said the research, among other things, can help lead to advances in technology for robots that work on deep sea oil spills and radioactive leaks. He said the research has “direct applications to human security and collective control of robots.”
“Our work aims to understand the principles of collective control in animal groups and what this can inform us about collective robotics. It has nothing at all to do with human politics,” Couzin said.
Read more:
http://www.politico....l#ixzz2LjFqjEBK
Some good comments on the issue:
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Dstegesaurus_5000 • 15 hours ago −
Remind me again what was the practical application of Alexander Fleming's research on the Penicillium mould? NIH research grants go through a rigorous peer review process that Senator Aqua Buddha obviously doesn't understand.
"When I woke up on September 28, 1928, I certainly didn't plan to revolutionize all medicine by discovering the world's first antibiotic. But I suppose that was exactly what I did."
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Stephen431 Dstegesaurus_5000 • 14 hours ago −
What about any practical application of JJ Thompson's discovery & research on the electron?
How could anyone derive any practical benefit from the study of tiny particles that no one can see?
Yet, here we are in a world that relies on electronics.
