Waste of the Day: Throwback Thursday: Researchers Blow Grant Funds on Failed Worm Expedition
Topline: Ice worms are so tiny that a dozen of them could fit on one fingertip. That makes them incredibly difficult to find in the wild — even with the help of $325,000 in taxpayer funds.
That didn’t stop Rutgers University professor Daniel Shain from trying, and failing, to find ice worms in Alaska in 2008, wasting his grant from the National Science Foundation in the process. Shain’s award was worth almost $475,000 in today’s money.
That’s according to the “Wastebook” reporting published by the late U.S. Senator Dr. Tom Coburn. For years, these reports shined a white-hot spotlight on federal frauds and taxpayer abuses.
Coburn, the legendary U.S. Senator from Oklahoma, earned the nickname "Dr. No" by stopping thousands of pork-barrel projects using the Senate rules. Projects that he couldn't stop, Coburn included in his oversight reports.
Coburn's Wastebook 2008 included 65 examples of outrageous spending worth more than $1.3 billion, including the $325,000 ice worm grant.
Key facts: Shain and his team of researchers flew, skied and walked over glaciers in Denali National Park, yet were unable to find ice worms.
They had planned to collect several hundred to compare to worms living in the Southern Hemisphere.
Shain had already received a $214,000 grant From NASA for a similar purpose in 2005.
Ice worms can only survive in temperatures ranging from 32 to 40 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the University of Alaska Fairbanks. They eat algae and bacteria living on glaciers.
They’ve taken on their own significance among local Alaskans. Some once believed the ice worms were mythical, and they’re honored every year at the eight-day Cordova Ice Worm Festival.
Supporting quote: “Finding them would be great, and would likely mean a new species to science,” Shain told the University of Alaska before leaving on his trip. “The alternative (not finding them) is less appealing, but that is the risk.”
Summary: How about this for a rule for taxpayer funds? If a worm can barely be seen with the naked eye, it’s not worth $325,000 to find.
The #WasteOfTheDay is brought to you by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com
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