FRONT PAGE CONTRIBUTOR
NIH Researching the Obvious
Who goes to a symphony wearing ear muffs?
A lot of government-supported research projects sound wasteful at first blush. That usually doesn’t bother me; after all, if somebody hadn’t studied bread mold in the first place, we might have never discovered penicillin.
NIH Funds $423,500 Study of Why Men Don’t Like to Use Condoms
Researchers at Indiana University’s Kinsey Institute, with funding from the National Institutes of Health, are investigating why “young, heterosexual adult men” have problems using condoms. The study will include “skill-based intervention” to teach grown men how to use protection.
As Billy Mays would say, “But wait! There’s more!”
But some questionable queries have come under close scrutiny, including a $400,000 study being conducted in bars in Buenos Aires to find out why gay men engage in risky sexual behavior while drunk; a $2.6 million study dedicated to teaching prostitutes in China to drink less while having sex on the job; and a $178,000 study to better understand why drug-abusing prostitutes in Thailand are at greater risk for HIV infection.