The 20 Weirdest Projects Ever Funded by U.S. Taxpayer Dollars

Taxpayer dollars fund the unglamorous essentials like roads, schools, and emergency response systems. You know, the boring-but-necessary stuff that keeps a country running. They also fund scientific research, public arts, and pilot programs that (in theory) push society forward.

And, then there’s the other bucket: the projects that make regular people blink at their screen and mutter, “We paid for… what?”

Sometimes the weirdness is just optics—an experiment can sound ridiculous in headline form while still producing real data that leads to incredible scientific advancements. Sometimes it’s the opposite: a project becomes infamous because it’s easy to mock, hard to explain, and politically irresistible as a “government waste” example.

Here are 20 taxpayer-funded projects that you have to read to believe.

In the 1960s, the CIA reportedly attempted to turn cats into surveillance tools—implanting equipment in an effort to eavesdrop on targets. It’s one of those stories that sounds like satire until you realize that the idea of animals in espionage has been documented by government sources and recirculated for decades.

DARPA has explored ways to reduce or eliminate the need for sleep, an idea framed around keeping soldiers operational longer. It’s the kind of concept that instantly triggers “dystopian sci-fi” or Winter Soldier vibes… but it’s also exactly the kind of research defense agencies love to explore. The “Restore Project” is a specific instance.

The U.S. military’s interest in psychic phenomena has been repeatedly cited in roundups of odd taxpayer-funded initiatives. Unsurprisingly, the most famous initiative took place during the Soviet-United States Cold War. “Project Star Gate” was part of the era’s larger fascination with unconventional intelligence gathering.

A National Endowment for the Arts grant that supported an art project involving “cactus theater” is exactly the type of thing that enrages critics of arts funding. The headline alone does all the work. In this case, the 2016 grant was given to the Borderlands Theater in Tucson, Arizona, allowing participants to “commune” with a saguaro cactus for 60 minutes.

Yes, there’s a production called “Doggie Hamlet,” and yes, it has been connected to public arts funding streams that draw from taxpayer-funded institutions. Whether it’s “wasteful” or “culture” depends on your tolerance for avant-garde art and dogs. Regardless, it’s certainly getting publicity: the Ann Carlson play has drawn the attention of major media outlets like the New York Times and the LA Times.

Of all the projects on this list, this one is the one you’re most likely to have heard of before. And, it’s famous for a reason: a 2012 UC Davis project involved the development of a robotic squirrel that was used to study predator-prey behavior (specifically rattlesnake interactions) has long been cited as a taxpayer-funded “what are we doing?” moment.

This is another iconic one—“shrimp on a treadmill”—but it’s also one of the most misunderstood. A 2025 fact-check noted the claim that taxpayers spent “$3 million on shrimp treadmills” was misrepresented, explaining the research spanned years and the treadmill component was a small part of biologist Lou Burnett’s wider NSF-funded work pertaining to water quality. Nonetheless, the experiment really did happen, and it really was government-funded.

One of the most eyebrow-raising examples of taxpayer-funded research involves experiments on aggression-promoting drugs tested on animals, including hamsters. The project has been widely cited as one of the strangest government-funded studies, earning its “Hamster Fight Club” nickname because of how surreal the premise sounds. It’s worth noting that in 2015, after more than 20 years of government funding, Richard Melloni’s research had to find other sources of funding.

A genuinely odd-sounding sleep project: an NSF award to study what happens when Mexican cavefish don’t get enough sleep. Weird? Absolutely. Also, though, when you dig deeper, this Florida Atlantic University study actually had a fascinating premise. Could these cavefish help humankind evolve to survive on very little sleep, leading to increased productivity and more time for life experiences? Sleep science often begins with animals whose biology reveals mechanisms humans share.

Another frequently cited example of strange federal research spending involves NIH-funded studies described as monkeys running in “hamster balls” on treadmills. The project has been referenced in multiple watchdog reports and media stories as an example of how behavioral and sleep-related research can sound bizarre when reduced to a headline. In more recent years, the NIH has modified its testing on monkeys to align with animal rights beliefs.

Researchers at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studied how bees behave under cocaine exposure. Though this sounds wild, the work was framed as insight into reward systems and social behavior in animals that could, theoretically, translate into better understanding human addiction and behavior. It’s both hilarious in headline form and genuinely scientific in intent.

NIH-backed research into cocaine and quail mating behavior is another one that reads like a joke until you remember animal models are standard in behavioral science. Still… the optics are undefeated. On a serious note, however, the research was intended to help scientists understand state-dependent behaviors that could also impact human actions.

Scientists have used taxpayer-supported grants to study how jumping spiders see the world. Research from the University of Hawai‘i explains that these small predators have some of the most advanced vision among spiders, with eyes that allow them to detect motion and navigate complex environments. The work sounds wild, but may ultimately help scientists understand visual processing and neural systems in humans.

A study examining microbes that grow on rock surfaces using tombstones as a research surface was funded through NSF Earth Sciences channels. It’s a perfect example of “basic science” that sounds creepy in a headline. Researchers Noah Fierer and Tess Brewer of the University of Colorado Boulder say their work could impact everything from soil fertility for agriculture to better preserving stone facades on buildings and monuments.

NASA-backed research has explored whether astronauts could cook during deep-space missions to reduce “menu fatigue,” among other practical considerations for potential missions to Mars. It’s actually practical for long-duration missions, but it still belongs in this list because, well, just say “Taxpayer-funded Mars cooking study” out loud.

A National Endowment for the Arts grant supported documentary work on Tupperware!, a 2013 project that detailed the famous brand’s place in postwar marketing and mid-century American domestic life. Described by its production company as a “tale of intrigue, invention, power, and money,” the story of Earl Tupper actually sounds worth a weeknight watch…

NEH funding also supported projects analyzing superheroes as reflections of American cultural values across decades—another “humanities grant that sounds silly until you think about it for 30 seconds.” Superheroes have long played a pivotal role in American pop culture, and the Superheroes: A Never-Ending Battle project is important for understanding these characters’ role in the overall American experience for nearly a century.

The National Endowment for the Arts also helps fund preservation-related work for puppet collections, like that owned by the Center for Puppetry Arts. Though this government-funded project feels quite niche in a headline, it is a vital part of how museums and cultural archives keep materials from literally falling apart. It also helps prevent the complete loss of this unique artistic form.

Straight from Tom Coburn’s U.S. “Wastebook” published in 2014 are Swedish massages for rabbits. To the tune of $387,000, a group of 18 New Zealand white rabbits received four-times daily, 30-minute massages. The massages were performed by a specially-engineered Swedish massage machine. Although researchers defended the project by saying its purpose was to see how massages could benefit humans after exercise, the study is often criticized as absurd.

And, last but certainly not least, comes another “Wastebook” list entry that needs almost no commentary: synchronized swimming… for sea monkeys. In reality, there’s much more to this research than meets the eye. Scientist John Dabiri uses brine shrimp — commonly known as sea monkeys — to explore how the collective swimming motion of tiny crustaceans could affect water movement and ocean mixing. Vertical migrations can generate currents strong enough to influence nutrient and heat distribution, offering insights into biological contributions to ocean circulation.

When headlines reduce research to punchlines — shrimp on treadmills, hamsters on drugs, sea monkeys swimming in sync — it’s easy to assume taxpayer dollars were simply wasted. But these projects also reveal something more complicated: the U.S. government funds an enormous range of scientific, cultural, and exploratory work, much of it designed to answer questions that don’t have obvious commercial value.

Some of these studies go on to influence medicine, environmental science, or technology in ways that aren’t immediately visible. Others mostly serve as reminders that public funding will always involve risk, curiosity, and occasionally, ideas that sound strange before they make sense.