Golden Goose Award to Celebrate Contributions of Basic Science to the Commonweal. (May 17, 2012)

The American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) has joined a bipartisan team of US Congressional lawmakers and a coalition of science, business, and education leaders in announcing the new Golden Goose Award, which will highlight the human and economic benefits of federally funded basic science.

The AAAS media release notes: "The award will honor researchers whose work may initially seem obscure or odd, and may be mocked or mischaracterized as wasteful, yet contributes to profound new discoveries."

Three examples sited by the group:

• Research projects on the excretion of urine in dogs and the excretion of insulin by dogfish ultimately led to vital information on the function of the human kidney and the relationship of hormones to kidney function. The research widened understanding of diabetes and earned the researcher the National Medal of Science.

• A study, entitled “Acoustic Trauma in the Guinea Pig,” led to a new treatment for early hearing loss in infants.

• A U.S. Department of Agriculture-funded research project on the sex life of the screwworm was ridiculed by the late Senator William Proxmire (D-Wisconsin), receiving one of his Golden Fleece Awards. But Proxmire was forced to apologize to the researchers after it became clear that understanding the mating habits of the screwworm, a deadly pest to cattle, would be essential to its control. The original project cost $250,000 but saved the U.S. cattle industry more than $20 billion.