From the ashes of the aborted American Teen Survey arose one of the most important longitudinal surveys in the social and and behavioral arsenal, the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health. This is a story of government spending gone terribly right!

Two decades ago two curious scientists from very different fields wondered how many people live at various altitudes. Aided by federal funding, their inquiries have helped in area ranging from disaster preparedness to cancer research to fresher snack foods. Now the duo have been honored with a Golden Goose Award.

‘Don’t judge a book by its cover – federal funding for odd or frivolous sounding research pays enormous societal, health, security, and economic dividends to the American taxpayer,’ argues a member of the steering committee for the Golden Goose Award.

Two neurophysiologists who brought kittens into their lab to study vision have been honored with the Golden Goose Award for federally funded experiments that once sounded silly but provided important benefits to society.

Were a psychologist to win federal funding for an experiment that involved offering 3-year-olds marshmallows, it’s likely that grant would eventually be cited on the floor of the House of Representatives as yet another example of silly and wasteful spending on social science.

The latest winners of the Gold Goose Award for seemingly weird science with big practical benefits are researchers whose brush with lab rat love is now helping thousands of preemies.

Three economists who used federal funding to research highly theoretical work on game theory and auctions are being honored with Golden Goose Awards for the highly practical application of their work that enabled the U.S. Federal Communications Commission to auction off the nation’s telecommunications spectrum in a way that maximized fairness and efficiency in the marketplace.

It can be fun to poke at oddball research, but a U.S. award rewards researchers whose peculiar efforts pay off for society.