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Stop Wasting All Our Cash on Gila Monsters!
Written by Someone Whose Work is Often an Indirect Cost
Some guys are just so smart, right? I mean, who would think it’s smart to spend a ton of money studying these ugly lizards that are slow and ugly, and have little reputation to stand on other than being the largest lizards in North America. They should just hang out in zoos and reptile tanks. We definitely should not “waste” government money, or healthcare money, or clinical trials money on researching these guys.
Heck, they are venomous for crying out loud! Maybe we should just wipe them out. They’re strange, and they go days and days without eating. That’s just…weird.
And we just might stop researching creatures like the Gila Monster.
In a Friday night raid of all things logical and scientific, the Trump administration announced that it would reduce the indirect cost payments to the National Institutes of Health, including hospitals, universities, and research institutions. These are the places that take a good look at lizards, like the Gila monster.
What the hell does this lizard have to do with the NIH? And wtf about the cost-slashing?
Turns out, that self-regulating metabolism of the Gila monster was a key element in the discovery of Ozempic.
