US: Senate report finds waste in science research

Scientific studies in America conducted in the public interest appear to have veered off course, according to a new report that documents government-sponsored research gems such as having shrimp walk on tiny treadmills to measure the impact of sickness on crustaceans, reports Fox News.

While the exercises may be adorable to watch, Senator Tom Coburn said he was not so sure they advanced the cause of science. The Oklahoma Republican issued a new report on Thursday that concluded the National Science Foundation has misspent US$3 billion on "waste, fraud, duplication and mismanagement".

It offers a list of research projects that could have been left as questions for the universe. Among them, $2 million to analyse 38 million photos on Flickr and cross-reference them against the site's social networking service. Researchers concluded that friends generally post photos on the internet depicting the same place at the same time.

The foundation, which had a $6.9 billion budget in 2010, vigorously defended itself in a statement released in response to the study.
Full report on the Fox News site