In the Congress of the United States
119th Congress — 1st Session
Shrimp on a Treadmill (NSF Funding)
Your Tax Dollars
Congressional Research Service Summary
The FIRST Act (Frontiers in Innovation, Research, Science, and Technology Act) proposed reforms to the National Science Foundation’s grant-making process, including requiring NSF to justify the broader societal impact of funded research. The bill was part of a broader congressional effort to scrutinize federal research spending.
Bill Details
The bill became inextricably linked with the “shrimp on a treadmill” controversy. In 2011, Senator Tom Coburn’s “Wastebook” report highlighted a $682,570 NSF grant to a researcher at the College of Charleston who, among other experiments, placed shrimp on small treadmills to study their exercise capacity under environmental stress.
The researcher, marine biologist David Scholnick, later explained that the treadmill itself was built from spare parts for about $47, and the broader grant funded legitimate research on the effects of water quality on marine organism health — research relevant to the seafood industry. Nevertheless, the image of a shrimp running on a treadmill became a potent symbol in the debate over federal research funding. The video went viral, and “shrimp on a treadmill” became shorthand for allegedly wasteful government spending.
Source: This bill was introduced in the 113th Congress. The shrimp treadmill research was funded under NSF grants highlighted in congressional debate. View on Congress.gov.
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Note: This page contains editorial commentary. Bill data is sourced from public congressional records and may not be fully current. Absurdity scores are subjective editorial ratings. Verify at Congress.gov →