ABC breathlessly covers a "scathing new report from Sen. Tom Coburn, a Republican from Oklahoma, exclusively obtained by ABC News" reprimanding the National Science Foundation for funding projects like shrimp on a treadmill. Zen Faulkes does ABC a favor and googles it for them. Shrimp on a treadmill got the meme treatment a couple years ago (see above video), but the science behind it matters:
The researchers want to study how sick shrimp are able to move around and do stuff. So what? We want healthy shrimp so we can eat them. The shrimp fishery is a multi-million dollar industry in the United States alone. This research clearly has implications for the management and health of that fishery, and therefore, the jobs of all those who catch shrimp and prepare shrimp.
The Dish 