Have Scientists Nothing Better To Do?

[CathyG]

The drive, the interest, the need and the technology is out there!! Meanwhile we await cures for cancer, diabetes, Lupus, Arthritis...as funds elude the projects...

Diagnostics, and treatment waiting lists, continue to embarrass the National Health...

Lack of funding = lack of hospital beds and fully trained medical staff whilst they afford the accountants and beaurocrats to manage the red tape...

Major institutions such as the British Heart Foundation and the Marie Curie Trust still rely heavily on charitable donations...

You get the message?!

But at least now, we can sit back satisfied that finally a team of hard working scientists...who have devoted their valuable time, skills and knowledge...have been suitably recognised for their achievements!! They have received the Ig Nobel prize for medicine for discovering that Herring strengthen their bonding, and secure their shoal, with a complicated and unique method of communication that is so innovative it should raise an approving smile, maybe even applause from our male human contingents here, especially since its complexity is beyond the comprehension of any passing predator! We must stop a while and wonder what marvel of evolution created such an opportunistic discovery for the Herring! Hmmm...I can just picture it now, and you thought your Betta and Gourami were building those bubble nests for their women!

 

[FishDan]

The Ig Nobel is essentially a joke prize, other winners this year include the combover, the inventor of karaoke and a woman who studied the validity of the "five-second rule". These scientists are not likely a detriment to the more useful studies that you mentioned. Furthermore, not every scientist has the knowledge, skill or even <gasp!> desire to find a cure for diabetes etc (it would be nice for diabetics like myself if they all did, but I'll just appreciate the multitude of scientists and doctors who are working towards a cure). Science is not just about finding a cure for cancer or diabetes. Science is about answering any and all questions in regards to the universe in which we are but a small part of. And cures for the ailments you mention, hospital beds, institutions that "still" rely on charitable donations (many of which it is their sole purpose to solicit charitable donations, so of course they "still" rely on them. That's what they are for!) are also small, albeit slightly more important than how herring communicat, parts of what scientists should study.

\Dan